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Miners put spotlight on unions

By Steven Miles - posted Thursday, 11 May 2006


If the workers wanted to have a dispute resolution procedure where they could be represented by their union, that would be illegal too - whether it’s to deal with mine safety or any other matter.

If the workers wanted to have some protection from unfair dismissal - say for raising concerns about seismic activity around the mine - that’s illegal.

If the workers wanted their union delegates to have access to a photocopier to distribute reports about safety issues - illegal.

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An office for a union official to meet with workers and hear their safety concerns - you guessed it, that’s illegal too.

Not only is an agreement illegal if it contains any of these seemingly sensible provisions, the workers and their union can be fined just for asking. Not small fines either, $6,000 for workers, $33,000 for unions for each and every breach.

Which is why the government should be concerned about the high-profile, positive role played by Shorten and the AWU. While unions have won the public debate about most of the WorkChoices legislation, the elements directed at destroying collective worker associations have passed largely unnoticed.

Perhaps that’s why so many in the media struggled to believe the Opposition when they pointed these things out.

Gradually the public will come to understand that WorkChoices is about attacking many of the elements of the Beaconsfield story that have made it so engrossing. The sense of community. The determination to do whatever it took to get them out. The understanding of the risks many workers take every day they go to work.

Particularly in mining towns, when you say “union”, people don’t think of officials like Shorten. They think of fellow workers down the mine, on the shop floor, in the office every day. Unions are embedded in the workplace and the community.

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While the focus of the Beaconsfield story should remain on the three miners and their families, workers across Australia will be reminded of Howard’s attack on them, their wages, their safety and their rights at work. And they’ll be slow to forget it.

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About the Author

Steven Miles is an Organiser with the Queensland Public Sector Union and a postgraduate research student in Political Science at the University of Queensland.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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