Balance fairness with productivity in IR

Comments on Janet Albrechtsen “Rhetoric fails to tell whole story”, 26/08/2009, http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/janetalbrechtsen/index.php/theaustralian/comments/rhetoric_fails_to_tell_whole_story/

For industrial relations, the most important issue is to get the balance right. Both the main political parties in Australia have strong an ideology on IR, but those relatively extreme ideologies are not the best for getting the balance right in IR between efficiency/productivity and fairness.

Howard government’s Work Choices went too far to the right and did not afford proper protections to employees, while the Rudd/Gillard Fair Work has gone to the left too far and bright collective bargains as the only means of making agreements. Both are unhelpful to having the right balance between efficiency/productivity and fairness.

The Howard government was voted out of office and its Work Choices was one of the main reasons. The Rudd government is still enjoying huge popularity, partly because the oppositions are impotent and error prong, not by its Fair Work.

While the day of reckoning may be still a long way off, there are indeed some signs that Fair Work is showing problems. The minister, Gillard, has given special treatment to the hospitality industry. What this means is that the Rudd government still has the opportunity to correct the shortcomings of its Fair Work to make it more productive.

It is up to the Rudd government to get this issue right.