After a tumultuous week in parliament, the Fair Work Bill was passed by the Senate last Friday.

The new laws will take effect from July 1 this year and will restore many of the rights that were taken away by the Howard Government’s WorkChoices legislation.

AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver said the laws were a good package overall, with some notable exceptions that the union would continue to campaign on.

In a video address to AMWU members, Mr Oliver said that everyone who campaigned in the Your Rights at Work campaign should be proud.

“The values that we asked the community to support have underpinned this legislation, and this is a real testament to how in touch unions are with the community.”

Mr Oliver also said that it was unsurprising that, in the end, the Liberal Party could not bring itself to vote against WorkChoices.

Many of the union’s key concerns were addressed by the laws.

“Most importantly, the laws address the concerns the union had with areas like collective bargaining. Employers will now have to bargain in good faith. They will no longer be able to refuse to negotiate with workers who want a union collective agreement.”

“Employers like Cochlear and Mechanical Engineering Services will no longer be able to get away with ignoring their workers wishes to be members of a union and to have the union negotiate for them.”

The laws also allow for an independent industrial umpire to settle disputes for low paid workers or where employers refuse to negotiate in good faith.

On unfair dismissal, workers will again be protected after 6 months employment in a workplace of more than 15 employees and after 12 months employment in a small business with less than 15 workers.

Mr Oliver said that workers now have a stronger safety net of employment standards and the protection of awards and minimum wages that were taken away under WorkChoices.

The Union will continue to push for improvements to the legislation including to the end to restrictions on matters than can be negioated during bargaining, the right to campaign for changes at an industry level, and for building workers to have the same rights as all workers.

The union is also pursuing better laws to protect workers’ entitlements when companies go broke.

“With the economic downturn, workers will need strong laws and this is a very good start. Building on our success so far, we are going to keep the Your Rights at Work campaign going until we have achieved all of our goals for working people.”