New research and analysis on industrial relations.

Howard’s IR fails the national test

The Howard scheme will be less than national, uncertain and litigation prone, says Jeff Shaw.

In a searching examination of the Constitutional question, Mr Shaw has concluded that the idea of imposing a single national system by force is impossible.

To find in the Prime Minister's favour, the High Court must support an unprecedented extension of Canberra's power, argue Mr Shaw and his co-author, Monika Ciolek, in a book to be launched on Monday.

Even if the government wins the most favourable High Court decision possible, the authors conclude that the scheme will still not be national.

The six industrial relations systems Howard boasts of extinguishing will remain, with added federal uncertainty and complexity.

The book is published by the Evatt Foundation and features five essays on key aspects of the Howard government's industrial relations proposals.

The other chapters examine the productivity question, the consequences for collective bargaining and the implications for working women and children who work.

Almost 60 per cent of children aged between 12 and 16 years work, and over 60 per cent of these work for a formal employer, says research by the NSW Commission for Children and Young People.

Under a scheme re-regulated in favour of employers, the hurdles 15 year-olds will face in individually negotiating reasonable contracts are stark.

The State of the States 2005, focusing on the State of Industrial Relations, will be launched at NSW Parliament House.

The speakers will include the former NSW Attorney General and the NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People, Gillian Calvert.

Also on the Evatt site:

• The Evatt Foundation proudly invites you to the launch of The State of the States 2005.
• Economic challenges & WorkChoices: The wrong strategy, by Greg Combet
• Howard makes the 'blue' unlawful, by Chris White
• From Deakin to Howard: A tarnished vision, by Bob Hawke
• Farewell to the 'fair go': Howard's 'vision', by Belinda Probert
• So much for all that, by Meg Smith
• Seventeen leading researchers assess the government's proposed changes to labour law
• Industrial relations: Employee rights and the economy, by Greg Combet
• Inside the tent: The right to strike in Australia, by Chris White
• The fight of our lives, by Doug Cameron
• Changing Australia, Carmel Tebbutt, Tom McDonald and Jenny Lawless launch the union story
• Coming soon: workplace survivor, by Warwick McDonald
• One hundred years of arbitration: A novel institution, by Stuart Macintyre

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