Sunfish said,
Lamem has it right, I think. The correct response is the old Sir Humphrey's " Minister we fail to see why........."
Sunny, I love reading your stuff - keep it up, however I don't agree with you on this one. We've played by ALL the rules for nearly two years. We have played within all laws and negotiated in good faith. A group of employees is just working their 38 hours a week - no more, no less. I don't think a Minister is going to make a declaration (under section 498 of Workplace Relations Act) because Mr Brown and Mr Dixon throw a hissy fit and the Queensland Premieress pulls out the old - no one is visiting Queensland routine.
After the last election when workchoices and employment conditions were such a large factor, Kev and Julia will be in for a very short term if they do anything other than sit on the fence or side with us. The whole idea was to remove government interference from the employee-employer relationship.(i.e the current ads on television from the ACTU).
I can just imagine all those workers(and voters) out there who maybe are not quite as well trained as us or are semi or non-skilled, they'd be thinking "if the Kev '07 interfered in stopping those high skilled aircraft workers from getting a legit payrise - what chance do I have. Sorry Kev -vote gone"