Federal Election 2010: Which party will support Aviation?

[Worrals in the wilds]

Chimbu,

I have no problem with Abbott as long as he is prepared to separate Church and State on health matters, particularly regarding women. He has not been able to do so in the past, but anyone can learn.

I voted against the Libs in the last federal election on several issues. Firstly, on their IR package, secondly on their emasculation of the federal public service (particularly the border agencies) while loudly proclaiming that they were tough on border protection and thirdly because I got the feeling that given one more term, Howard would have had himself voted Dictator For Life, a la Julius Caesar. IMO they were in too long, got too comfortable and needed a spell in opposition to rethink their strategy.

I have read the Fair Work Act (all three hundred pages) and I don’t believe anyone understands it fully. However, I was not going to vote for Work Choices. I’m not Labor by any stretch but I do work for wages, I heard my own employer’s plans to take full advantage of the Work Choices provisions and they were scary.

While I was fully in favour of reforming IR legislation (I also have experience with a small business that spent the better part of a year getting rid of a completely incompetent employee), in my opinion, a winding back of the unfair dismissal protections was enough to address that issue. There was no need (and it turns out, no public support) for individual contracts, and there is always a place for collective representation (union or otherwise) in larger companies. A small business is a different environment from a medium-large business, where the boss may not know or care what your name is, and is generally completely removed from his/her workers’ needs and concerns.

Additionally, no one considers themselves a bad boss. In a large company, I worked for a complete despot who would tell everyone that listened what a great people person he was, and how his ‘door was always open’. In reality, about the only person that door was open to was the Union rep, who regularly reminded him of his legal obligations regarding intimidation and consultation.

There was much public whinging from employers about how hard it is to get rid of a problem employee. In my experience (as above) it was difficult and a lot of paperwork, but certainly not impossible. Our very small business (my second employer) managed to do it without paying experts, so I fail to see why any other business couldn’t take the same steps. It was a matter of finding out what was required, counselling and documenting accordingly. Total PITA, but not impossible.

let’s remember the ultimate protection against this is not legislation but the fact good staff leave and the company goes broke thereby relieving the economy of an entity that shouldn't exist

Sure, in Utopia. In the real world, people have mortgages, family commitments and fear. Management intimidation and bullying are alive and well in many medium - large companies, and the individual employee is often too frightened to speak out and too financially committed to leave (which usually involves a temporary pay cut). No one likes unions very much, least of all their members, but they do provide a platform for employees to negotiate terms.

I didn’t like Rudd and Co and I suspected they’d be a f-up, but I wasn’t about to vote myself reduced conditions and bargaining power. It’s all very well for the Libs to whine that they were misunderstood, but I don’t believe they were. Their proposed legislation forced individual workers to do battle with large, well funded companies without protection.

From a rationalist point of view, they should have done the maths and worked out that the electorate has more workers than employers, and therefore you will never win an election pandering to employers at the expense of workers. They will only win the next one if they restore voters’ confidence in their IR platform.

As employer and employee, this is probably not an issue we will ever agree on. You may be a good employer (and kudos to you if you are) but there are still plenty of bastards out there, and while they pay the wages they will still have the upper hand over their workers without legislative safeguards.