Local Government Your Rights at Work News - May 16

The Campaign to Secure Your Rights at Work in Local Government Continues. Howard Government’s Ability to Apply its IR Legislation to Local Government in Question

By now most Workplace Reps and Activists in Local Government would have received our advice that it is imperative that, in light of the Howard Government's IR changes and their ability to reduce your entitlements, we approach bargaining with the principle of 'issues before instruments' in mind. This means that we must continue to work together to build power in our workplace before bargaining and that when we do bargain with your employer we focus on securing existing rights and conditions and on negotiating the issues that members have identified they feel strongly about.

There are a number of entitlements that Local Government workers currently have that are now 'prohibited content' for agreements under the new laws. This prohibited content only applies however to agreements made under the new laws. The only way to secure all existing conditions is to negotiate a common law agreement between your Union and Council to sit alongside your existing Certified Agreement. Common law agreements are not illegal as a result of these or any other laws; common law agreements are in fact one of the simplest and oldest available legal tools to secure agreement between parties.

We would not ask any Council to do anything that was illegal in negotiations.

Howard's new industrial legislation is designed to take away rights from you and strengthen the bargaining power of your employer. Focusing on building power to negotiate your issues and then finding the best instrument to preserve your wages and conditions is imperative.

New information has also come light which puts in doubt whether any Councils would be found to be trading corporations; if they are not found to be trading corporations it is questionable whether the new laws will apply.

In its own submissions to the High Court on 11 May 2006 the Commonwealth Government has cast grave doubt on whether any Council would be capable of being brought under the new laws by stating through the Commonwealth Solicitor General that

"......a municipal corporation would not be considered a trading corporation if its principal activity was the exercise of governmental authority."

Under this definition it is difficult see how any Council could be considered a trading corporation. As well as putting your entitlements at risk in the long term, if Work Choices agreements are entered into and it is then determined Councils are not trading corporations, all of your entitlements could be at risk by virtue of the Work Choices agreement having no effect at all.

It is the ASU position that we do not accept that any Council in SA is a trading corporation unless proven otherwise. We understand that the LGA's advice is that all or almost all Councils would be considered trading corporations - the legal basis for this assertion is at best debatable. The Commonwealth's submissions to the High Court are simply further evidence of this.

There is no doubt that there is currently confusion about which industrial instruments to use. We would again therefore advise that it is very important that we continue to negotiate as we always have, that we do not panic and that we simply find out what issues workers care about, build power in the workplace to deal with them and negotiate these issues with your employer.

Once you have reached agreement on the appropriate wages and conditions in your council then we can then discuss the best form of written agreement or agreements to secure those conditions both in the short and long term

Act with confidence in undertaking what we as Union know is a fair and reasonable approach to bargaining. It is an approach which truly allows you as members to negotiate your issues rather than being dictated to by laws which are designed to reduce your entitlements. Keep in touch with your ASU Office and remember that by being active, strong and united we can secure and improve your rights at work.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours in solidarity

Andy Dennard
BRANCH SECRETARY

Katrine Hildyard
BRANCH ASSISTANT SECRETARY