Another year, another review

Make no mistake, the Abbott government is going after workers. Despite parliamentary and polling woes, its determination hasn’t wavered.

Already we have the Heydon royal commission, recently extended for a year; and a first round of changes to the Fair Work Act, which the Coalition is still trying to get through parliament.

Last year, amid calls from business for the government to “muscle up to militant unions”, there was a Productivity Commission investigation into the impact of industrial relations on infrastructure projects. Despite finding no impact, the commission called for tougher penalties for “unlawful” union conduct, as well as claiming that productivity growth was too low and “reforms” were needed.

Now, with the opening stage of its industrial relations agenda stalling in the Senate, Eric Abetz and Joe Hockey have announced another Productivity Commission review – of the Fair Work Act. The review’s terms of reference – released on 19 December – are a recipe for tightening the screws on workers and giving the bosses a freer hand. All the Coalition priorities are there: flexibility for employers, increased productivity, less red tape and industrial action and the expansion of independent contracting.

Combined with all of the other “investigations” completed, under way or in the pipeline, this is a full-on attack on workers’ rights and conditions. It is the weaponry they will use to bludgeon unions and drive down wages.

The unions are right to condemn each new investigation the government dreams up, but to beat back this onslaught, we’ll need more than words of condemnation or appeals for “fairness” at Fair Work Commission hearings. Nor can we rely on electoral campaigns in the hope that Labor will change any laws that get through.

Every worker is targeted by the Productivity Commission review. We need every union to take up the fight through a concerted industrial campaign to save our wages and conditions – and our unions.