ACOALITIONof community leaders says the combined impact of legislation proposed by the Howard Government will be devastating on the West.
The Western Suburbs Unions and Community Coalition will hold a public meeting in Footscray on Thursday to discuss three pieces of legislation.
These include the proposed Welfare to Work policy, changes to Industrial Relations legislation and the new antiterror laws.
Coalition convenor Shirley Winton said the meeting, in the Hyde St church hall from 7pm on 10 November, was called to “defend our living standards”.
The group insists changes to industrial relations were part of a “wider attack on people’s basic rights, welfare and community services, health and education”.
Ms Winton said disadvantaged communities in the West would be among the first to feel the effect of the new legislation.
Speakers will include Cath Smith, CEO of the Victorian Council of Social Services (VCOSS), Father Stuart Soley, of the Sunshine Braybrook Anglican Community, and Joan Doyle, Secretary of the Communications Union.
And Rob Stary, Footscray’s highprofile criminal defence lawyer, will draw a link at the meeting between the new laws and industrial action.
“We initially said when the antiterror legislation was passed in July 2002 there should be some alarm bells being rung as to how the legislation could be misused,” he said.
“In particular, we said we really could be forgiven for thinking it could be designed to quell or suppress political dissent.”
He said under the new legislation industrial protests could be seen as a form of terrorism.
“It says people involved in action to coerce government to change policy can be guilty of an offence,” Mr Stary said.
“There are two exceptions to that. People who engage in lawful industrial action or lawful political dissent.
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“However, it would not be lawful for people to engage in conduct likely to endanger or threaten the safety or welfare of members of the public,” Mr Stary said.
That would include workers stood on picket lines in actions that are said to “endanger the safety or welfare of members of the public”.
Ms Smith said if both the IR legislation and the Welfare to Work policy went ahead it would have a very dramatic affect on people.
The policy aimed to get back into the workforce people on the Parenting Payment and Disability Support Pension, resulting in many being placed on lower benefits while looking for jobs or doing parttime work.
Ms Smith said VCOSS supported the move but not in the manner proposed by the Howard Government.
“Industrial relations legislation over time will bring down the minimum wage,” she said. “At the same time, they will force about 30,000 Victorians into the labour market, cutting their welfare payments.
“What it’s going to do is force parents with schoolage children to take whatever paid work is available, even if it leaves them financially worse off at the end of the week.”
The Government planned under the scheme to help parents and the disabled look for work through the Job Network program and expand “outside school hours care services”.
Joan Doyle will highlight aspects of the proposed IR legislation, which she believes compromises workers rights.
She said the union feared employers would open to negotiation and manipulation basic conditions like the 38hour week, explaining that a 38hour week didn’t mean people would be paid overtime.
Ms Doyle said employers could interpret the condition to result in a worker putting in a 20hour week early in the year and at times of demand, like Christmas, be expected to work a 60hour week.
“It doesn’t matter as long as it works out to be a 38hour week by the end of the year.”
