. Chapter 8 Trade unions and social justice Marjorie Jerrard and Lisa Heap Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-1

. Employee rights, and challenges for trade unions Many rights at the workplace often taken for granted by employees are derived from International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards and some are not enshrined in law in Australia; instead being defended by trade unions and their members at the workplace through bargaining, perhaps supported with industrial action. The challenge for trade unions as agents of collectivism and social justice when it comes to diversity-related employment rights in an organisational context is that, from their perspective, diversity is business-driven from senior management with a focus on individuals leaving little opportunity for union input into policy-making and often excluding diversity-related matters from collective bargaining agreements. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-2

. Employee rights, and challenges for trade unions (cont.) This is further reinforced by diversity objectives being entrenched in human resource management formulated policies, moving diversity into HRM and out of collective bargaining and the industrial relations arena. This chapter offers an analysis of five campaigns that the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and its affiliates ran to protect workers’ rights and promote equity and diversity at workplaces across Australia. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-3

. What are employment rights? In Australia, workers’ human rights have not been adequately recognised under labour law and their protection is dependent almost entirely on the extent to which Australian governments have enacted legislation for their protection and exercise. The flip side of this is that Australian governments can just as easily regulate to remove such rights, as occurred with the Workplace Relations (WorkChoices) Act 2005 which removed rights that had otherwise been protected in awards, agreements, and other pieces of legislation and reinforcing the threat of increased inequality. Rights removed included the right to collective bargain and be represented by a union and employment rights that had long been established and protected under industrial awards. See the 2009 federal industrial relations legislation – minimum conditions and standards in employment. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-4

. A charter of employment rights The Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER) has put forward a Charter of Employment Rights for Australian workplaces, which covers both individual and collective rights. Ten key employment rights deriving from Australia’s international obligations under ILO conventions in relationship to the regulation of work and workplaces, Australia’s historical traditions of fairness, and doctrines arising from the evolution of common law, have been identified: –Good faith performance –Work with dignity –Freedom from discrimination and harassment –A safe and healthy workplace –Workplace democracy –Union membership and representation –Protection from unfair dismissal –Fair minimum standards –Fairness and balance in industrial bargaining –Effective dispute resolution Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-5

. Trade unions and the Anglo-Saxon male worker norm Trade unions have as their central purpose protecting and furthering their members’ wages and conditions, including employment rights. Australian trade unions developed in the mid- to late- nineteenth century and organised male workers of Anglo or Celtic ethnicity in industries such as agriculture, mining, building, meat processing, and the waterfront. Thus the majority of union members were men and unions focused on their interests. Historically, Australian trade unions have generally been ineffective at recruiting and organising women, Indigenous Australians, migrants, young workers, and the less skilled; let alone furthering their interests and protecting their rights at work. While the Australian labour market has changed considerably during the twentieth century with an influx of women during and after World War II and successive waves of immigration, the trade union movement, with some exceptions, has been slow to adapt to these changes. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-6

. Changing trade union policies Increased female and minority membership More female union leaders National campaigns to address equity and diversity issues – paid maternity leave; improved work and family balance; improved conditions for call centre workers; Fairwear campaign for clothing outworkers Active campaigning on the basis of social justice issues linked to human rights The following slides show examples of recent trade union campaigns for social justice in the workforce. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-7

. Paid maternity leave (PML) Until recently Australia did not have a universal PML program but some organisations had their own PML. The ACTU has been campaigning since 1979 for a government-funded PML scheme, working with women’s lobbying groups and other community groups. In 2008, the ACTU proposed a national, federal government- funded scheme paid at federal minimum wage rates, plus nine per cent superannuation for all women, including those who do not work. Employers would contribute a top-up payment to fully replace the income (ordinary time earnings) of working women who earn more than the minimum wage. The ACTU provided bargaining kits for union affiliates and their members which included ways of achieving PML in collective agreements and ways to improve PML at workplaces once it had been achieved. Educational materials setting out the case for PML were produced. In 2009 the Government announced a PML program. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-8

. Pay equity in the public sector The Equal Remuneration Convention 1951 (No. 100) was ratified by Australia in 1973 but pay equity still has not been achieved across the workforce, leaving women workers in a range of occupations and industries financially disadvantaged. In the Victorian public sector, the Commonwealth Public Sector Union (CPSU), in negotiations with the Victorian State Government, has achieved changes in terms of gender balance and diversity by ensuring that all bargaining claims include gender issues that have been identified in consultation with women members and via member surveys. High on the union’s list is removing discrimination and achieving pay equity. The CPSU’s Victorian Branch identified that wage gaps and pay inequity existed because of issues with the Victorian Public Service career structure and with comparable worth. A new structure was proposed with seven non-overlapping grades with clear value ranges and progression steps. The union also wanted a greater gender balance in the higher grades as part of a push towards greater diversity.. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-9

. Bullying and harassment in the health sector There is an ever-expanding body of research on bullying and harassment within the nursing profession in Australia which shows that these practices are dominant in the profession. A general shortage of nurses is being exacerbated by high turnover in the profession as a result of the poor workplace culture. There is a need to attract and retain younger nurses in the profession and to ensure that nurses coming from overseas have the opportunity to gain employment in the profession in Australia. The causes of bullying and harassment in nursing have been identified as ‘disenfranchising work practices structured around task/time imperatives’ (i.e., the need to complete a set of tasks in a particular order within a particular time frame so that all tasks are done when the shift changeover occurs), generational and hierarchical abuse and aggression, the formation of cliques, low self- esteem, the inadequate and inappropriate responses of managers, and the gendered nature of the workforce which leads to stereotyping of female nurses (Farrell 2001). Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-10

. Bullying and harassment in the health sector (cont.) The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) explicitly defines bullying, harassment, and discriminatory behaviours and has identified what sort of behaviours are not acceptable in the workplace. The Federal Branch’s policy also clearly links the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace free of bullying, harassment, and discrimination back to occupational health and safety legislation via a duty of care and therefore indirectly to the ILO Convention on Occupational Health and Safety 1981 (No. 155). The ANF works with its members, their supervisors and hospital administrators to achieve changes in the prevention of workplace bullying by changing work and supervisory practices. A successful outcome will see younger nurses and those nurses from overseas enjoy a more positive working environment, with the right to work free from harassment, discrimination and bullying. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-11

. Migrant workers in the meat- processing sector While there are several ILO conventions relating to migrant workers and their rights, such workers continue to have their rights removed or exploited by employers and they are treated as a second-class workforce, making genuine workforce equity impossible to achieve. Employers in the Australian meat industry have been turning to temporary migrant workers to fill labour gaps in abattoirs. The temporary work visa scheme can also be misused and abused by employers to undercut existing wages and conditions in the industry. The union in the meat processing industry, the Australian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU) argues that overseas workers should not be exploited by employers: these workers must have the right to the prevailing rate of pay, decent accommodation and fair and ethical treatment in relation to other expenses that arise from their status as overseas workers. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-12

. Migrant workers in the meat- processing sector continued All AMIEU branch secretaries are authorised to make use of the media to highlight any abuses of the system to ensure that the issue becomes a public and a political one. The union brought this issue to the notice of the ACTU at the 2006 Congress and took the position that if temporary migrant workers are working in Australia, they should have identical conditions and wages to Australian workers and they should also be permitted to remain in Australia. The stance taken by the AMIEU has influenced trade unions covering other industries to look at strategies to protect the rights of these workers in their industries. This campaign highlights the dual objectives of many union campaigns: members’ interests on the one hand and the rights of workers in general. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-13

. Recovering the wages of Indigenous workers Australian colonial legislation from the late 1800s established government control over the lives of many Indigenous Australians as a ‘protective measure’ so that for most of the twentieth century state governments continued to control wages, savings, and benefits belonging to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In Queensland alone, it is estimated that as much as $55 million is owed to Indigenous workers and their families. In 2003, the ACTU and a wide range of unions assisted Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and the Stolen Wages Campaign Working Group (SWCWG) with a publicity campaign to raise awareness about the issue. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-14

. Recovering the wages of Indigenous workers In 2007, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) funded the Foundation for Aboriginal Islander Research Action’s (FAIRA) Award Wages for Indigenous Persons Project and its continued legal action against the Queensland Government on behalf of Indigenous workers seeking reimbursement of lost monies. The CFMEU and other unions continue to work with Indigenous community groups on the stolen wages campaign, building on FAIRA’s initial success before the Australian Human Rights Commission in winning for seven workers from Palm Island. The union movement’s involvement in this campaign has raised public awareness about ongoing mistreatment and exploitation of Indigenous workers at the hands of both employers and governments. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-15

. Conclusions The Australian trade union movement is working to redress the past injustices and inequities between different groups of workers that have arisen out of the movement’s early policies and the structure of the Australian labour market. These campaigns may involve trade unions working outside of the workplace and in public and political arenas. In doing so, they work in coalitions with non-government organisations (NGOs), community groups and other organisations, and various tribunals to achieve equity and justice in the workplace. Each campaign discussed in this chapter centred around employment rights: the right of women workers to PML; the right of women workers to be paid equally to their male colleagues doing equivalent work; the right to work free of bullying, harassment, and discrimination; the right of migrant workers on temporary visas not to be exploited at work and to receive at least minimum fair standards; and the right of Indigenous workers to receive their pay and benefits. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-16

. Conclusion All these workers contribute to the diversity of the Australian workforce, bringing different skill sets, ideas, and ways of doing work, ensuring a strong labour market and strong economy which is particularly important in the current global economic crisis. There remains a role for trade unions in assisting with effective diversity management initiatives in industries and organisations. For trade unions, diversity management is about protecting the rights of employees and promoting legal compliance by employers regarding these rights. Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Strachan, French and Burgess, Managing Diversity 8-17