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Home > Industrial Relations
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Forward with Fairness
There is no question that Work Choices - the Howard Government’s attack on the Australian tradition of fairness and balance in industrial relations – was a key factor in the 2007 election outcome. Australians voted overwhelmingly to abolish Australian Workplace Agreements, which had already led to lower pay and the loss of important working conditions for many vulnerable workers.
The new Fair Work system came into effect on 1 July 2009 following the passing of the Fair Work Act. The new system now applies to all employees and employers operating under the federal workplace relations system.
Key features of the new system include:
- A special low-paid bargaining stream designed to help workers who have missed out on the benefits of bargaining in the past - these include workers in areas like child care, aged care, community services, security and cleaning, who are often paid the basic award rate. In the special low-paid stream, Fair Work Australia will facilitate the making of agreements and will play a hands-on role to get the parties bargaining.
- Protection from unfair dismissal - there are new laws designed to make sure good employees are protected from being dismissed unfairly while allowing employers to manage underperforming employees with fairness and confidence.
- Good faith bargaining at the enterprise level - the Fair Work system has a focus on employers and groups of employees working together to negotiate agreements.
- Streamlined and strengthened general protections for workers - with the freedom to choose to be represented in the workplace as a key part of the new system.
- A new national workplace relations tribunal - Fair Work Australia.
- A new inspectorate body - headed by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
- A new information and advice service - employers and employees can access a one-stop-shop for information and advice by visiting Fair Work Online or calling the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.
Click here for fact sheets on Forward with Fairness
Above: Anthony and Julia Gillard speak with a worker at the Tristar factory, Marrickville - 9 February 2007.
Tristar - Marrickville
Tristar Steering and Suspension Ltd, whose factory is in Marrickville, was effectively starving out its longest serving workers, refusing to pay them their redundancy entitlements. The company claimed there was still work to be done, but the factory was empty.
On 14 November 2007, more than 18 months after the dispute began, the final three workers received their redundancies. Follow the links below to read how Anthony Albanese and Federal Labor took up the workers’ case.
15 November 2007
Labor welcomes end of Tristar dispute - Media Release
4 September 2007
Transcript of doorstop interview – Tristar, Marrickville - Most Tristar workers get entitlements but fate of 7 workers still uncertain
31 August 2007
Transcript of doorstop interview – Tristar, Marrickville - Tristar workers, Howard Government’s industrial relations policy
30 May 2007
Speech - Workplace Relations Amendment (A Stronger Safety Net) Bill 2007 - Second Reading
9 May 2007
Speech - Standing Orders
27 March 2007
Personal Explanations - Tristar
19 February 2007
Tristar HAS breached the law, according to OWS - Joint Media Release - Julia Gillard and Anthony Albanese
7 February 2007
Tristar workers return to Parliament House - Media Release
6 February 2007
Questions without Notice – Workplace Relations: Tristar
6 February 2007
Personal Explanations - Anthony Albanese
1 February 2007
Transcript of radio interview with Steve Price, Radio 2UE - Tristar
1 February 2007
Transcript of doorstop interview – Julia Gillard and Anthony Albanese – Tristar Factory, Marrickville
24 January 2007
Tristar ordeal far from over – Joint Media Release - Julia Gillard and Anthony Albanese
24 January 2007
Labor condemns Tristar – Joint Media Release Julia Gillard and Anthony Albanese
23 January 2007
Tristar – Mr John Beaven – Media Release
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Above: Anthony visited the Tristar factory on 31 August 2007, where workers were fighting for their redundancy entitlements. On that day, 13 of the workers learned that they would receive their redundancies, but the entitlements of a handful of other workers remained uncertain.
10 August 2006
WorkChoices fails to protect redundancy payments - Media Release - 10 August 2006
10 August 2006
Question without notice to the Prime Minister –Tristar workers
9 August 2006
3 Minute Statement –Tristar workers
3 August 2006
Transcript of meeting with Tristar workers, Marrickville - Sydney 3 August 2006
Above: Anthony Albanese, Julia Gillard, and State Member for Marrickville, Carmel Tebbutt, visited workers at the Tristar factory in Marrickville on 9 February 2007.
Other media releases, speeches and news items on industrial relations
18 June 2010
Paid parental leave scheme a win for lcoal families
Legislation for Australia’s first Paid Parental Leave scheme has passed through the Parliament. Federal Member for Grayndler Anthony Albanese said it was a historic piece of reform and would be welcomed by young families in the Inner West.
30 May 2007
Speech - Workplace Relations Amendment (A Stronger Safety Net) Bill 2007 - Second Reading
The Prime Minister may be a clever politician, but hardworking Australian families can see that the only job the Prime Minister is worried about is his own.
20 July 2006
Transcript of Doorstop Interview Newtown, with Kim Beazley and Anthony Albanese - Sydney 20 July 2006
Elaine Gray, a Newtown resident, was sacked while on maternity leave. Ms Gray was a marketing manager who had been employed with Dialect Solutions for 4 years. More...
27 March 2006
Industrial Relations Forum
Anthony Albanese MP, Federal Member for Grayndler, has organised a public forum on Your Rights At Work – The Future of Industrial Relations, to be held on Wednesday 12 April 2006 at Leichhardt Town Hall. More...
7 December 2005
Workplace laws to impact on small businesses and families in Grayndler: Albanese
Anthony Albanese, Federal Member for Grayndler, spoke out again about the impact of the Howard Government’s extreme workplace laws, which passed the Parliament and entered the Australian community today. More...
10 November 2005
Workplace Relations Amendment (Workchoices) Bill 2005
Read Anthony's speech to the Parliament about the Workchoices legislation.
10 November 2005
Workplace Relations Amendment (Workchoices) Bill 2005 Second Reading Speech.
Read Anthony's speech incorporated into Hansard (following the 'gagging' of the debate by the government).
10 November 2005
Albanese rejects Industrial Relations reforms
Anthony Albanese MP, Federal Member for Grayndler, rejected the government’s Industrial Relations reforms outright in Parliament today, and reaffirmed the Australian Labor Party’s commitment to pursue amendments which would kill the extreme legislation. More...
14 October 2005
Industrial Reforms Just Not Fair
Yesterday in parliament, it was revealed that thousands of copies of a document outlining the Howard government’s extreme industrial relations changes, were pulped at the taxpayers’ expense.
13 October 2005
Matters of Public Importance - Industrial Relations Speech - Government advertising campaign.
"The reform has been so well thought through that they printed tens of thousands of copies of a document but then had to pulp them because their pollsters and spin doctors, who they are paying millions of dollars—Liberal Party friends—advised them: ‘It’s probably not a good idea just to say “A simpler national workplace relations system for Australia”. We need to add the word “fairer”.’..."
Above: Anthony with Newtown mother Elaine Gray. Ms Gray was sacked under the new IR laws while on maternity leave. For the transcript of the interview with Kim Beazley and Anthony of 20 July 2006, click here. Read Ms Gray's story as reported by The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald and AAP.
9 August 2005
Stop misleading local workers with taxpayers’ money
“John Howard is spending $20 million of taxpayers’ money to sell and spin his proposed IR reforms. But these ads don’t tell you the full story,“ said Mr Albanese. More...
30 June 2005
Only Labor guarantees to protect the jobs of workers in Grayndler
Anthony Albanese, Federal Member for Grayndler, has called upon the Howard Government to guarantee that no worker in this area will be worse off under John Howard proposed industrial relations changes. More...
22 June 2005
Adjournment - Workplace Relations Speech.
I rise to draw members’ attention to the harsh realities that face workers in my electorate and around Australia under the Howard government. I want to use the example, with his permission, of David Noel Thomas, a constituent in my electorate recently retired from his job after 48 years of service as a semitrailer driver for WM Jago and Sons.
22 June 2005
Government anti-worker and anti-family: Albanese
Anthony Albanese MP, Federal Member for Grayndler, spoke out in Parliament last night against the Howard Government’s attacks on working families in Grayndler. Mr Albanese drew attention to the case ... More...
Above: Tristar workers meet with Kim Beazley, Stephen Smith, Anthony Albanese and Robert McClelland in Canberra - 2 November 2006.
For more information see the links below:
Your Rights At Work
ACTU Website
Unions NSW Website
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Above: Anthony at the May Day rally in Gladstone, QLD, on 1 May 2006.
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