Employers are seeking flexibility clauses in an attempt to undermine pay and conditions in collective agreements.
The clauses allow an employer to pressure an individual to accept conditions that contradict standards set in an agreement and are being promoted by employer associations including the Australian Industry Group (AiG).
Campbell’s Soups, Visy and a score of other manufacturing companies are pushing the flexibility clauses – a move which AMWU National Secretary, Dave Oliver, says is unprecedented.
“All of a sudden we have got all these employers who want to visit this issue of flexibility where it has never been an issue in the past.”
Mr Oliver said, in a speech to the WorkForce 2009 conference, that the AMWU supports flexible working arrangements to suit workers and employers, but the flexibility must be agreed to by a majority of workers, not forced onto individuals.
“We do not accept that an employer should be able to make a collective agreement, and then turn around and reduce conditions at the individual level through the back door. A deal has to be a deal.”
“The Metal Industry Award has – for decades – allowed for any manufacturing operation to run 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Whether an employer seeks to keep a plant in constant operation or require additional hours from workers on weekends or public holidays, there is nothing to stop employers from doing so as long as they pay the appropriate rates.”
Mr Oliver said the flexibility clause in the new laws gives companies the capacity to approach and pressure individuals to undermine the conditions of a collective agreement.
Mr Oliver said the flexibility clause was pushed by the AiG during negotiations with the government for the new industrial relations laws, a fact not disputed by AiG head, Heather Ridout.
Ms Ridout has accused the AMWU of being intransigent on this issue, accusing the union of wanting to go back to the Dark Ages.
But, Mr Oliver argued that Ms Ridout was conveniently ignoring the work practices of most manufacturing companies.
“Most of our members work on production lines. Campbell’s Soup workers don’t do their work in isolation from what other employees are doing and flexibility for one person is always going to involve the whole workplace.
Mr Oliver also said that the most common use of the clause by employers was to get individuals to change their regular hours to periods that would normally attract overtime in the collective agreement.
Mr Oliver said that the union would fight the clause being used in agreements and encourage employers to focus on improving productivity.