Internet Edition Issue 7
October/November 2005

Editorial

Viewpoint

The "Profile" received top magazine award

The Pilgrims' Way-World Youth Day

From the Office of Justice, Ecology & Peace

Catholic Education and Accreditation

KCP Magazine

“Good industrial relations is good human relations”
By Br Shane Wood cfc

This is a saying that was quoted to me many years ago when as a school principal I was the representative of the employer – my religious superiors. It was a very good line to keep in mind. However, what does the employee do when he cannot establish a good human relationship with the employer? What if there is really no relationship based on shared human values at all? What or who is going to stand between the employee and a raw deal? In the past it might have been the Union; certainly it was an Award with a minimum safety net of provisions. This might not be the case in the near future if the current Government has its way.

I had some adverse criticism of late from a reader in Queensland who wanted to berate me for not mentioning the ‘bad old days’ when we had a Labor Federal Government and things were, according to her, worse than they are now. The writer failed to give an address for a response – mine was easy to find. I will not take up too much space in the current column mounting a defence, but suffice it to say that if Labor was in power now and was proposing some of the industrial relations changes being put forward by the current Government, then I would be just as concerned and just as vocal.

As I have mentioned previously, Labor governments in the past have been responsible for the introduction of mandatory detention of asylum seekers and the disgraceful neglect of the East Timorese over a period of twenty five years. We had to wait for Liberal Backbenchers to make a noise before we got any decent changes to our Asylum seeker policy. And congratulations to them – a sentiment I have conveyed to them in writing. What the letter writer failed to appreciate is that we have to deal with the Government we have at present and call them to account when we believe that they are not acting in the best interests of the common good as we see it, based on gospel values and one hundred years of Catholic Social Justice Teaching.

Let me get back to the current issue of industrial relations ‘reform’ proposed by John Howard and his minister, Kevin Andrews. There has been concern expressed by people associated with the Catholic Church and indeed other Christian churches in relation to these proposals. There has also been the odd suggestion from politicians that Church organizations have no right to be speaking out on such issues. The Australian Catholic Commission for Employment Relations (ACCER) has released a Discussion Paper on this very important issue. The Commission reminds us that

Catholic Social Teaching on work starts from the nature and dignity of humanity and work. Employees cannot be treated as commodities, nor can their labour be treated in purely economic terms. Employees have the right to just minimum wages and to just and safe working conditions. Every family has the right to sufficient income through work.

These are important values and principles being enunciated here. This is not party political rhetoric or name calling. This paper aims to put the debate onto the footing of a discussion of basic human values. The concerns of the Commission relate specifically to

the Government’s current proposals to change the wage fixing system by introducing a minimum wage fixed by reference to the single adult employee; abolish unfair dismissal rights for employees of corporations employing 100 or less employees; and change the nodisadvantage test that is applied to the making of collective and individual agreements.

The ability to comment on these issues comes not only out of a century of reflection and teaching on Social Justice principles, but also out of the practical experience that the Church in Australia has because it is 'through its many agencies...one of the largest employers in Australia'.

We are aware that at the time of going to print the details of the legislation are not yet available, but the proposed directions are pretty clear. In any case, this discussion is based on principle and is a valuable discussion to have. The ACCER believes that as a nation we need to have a discussion about where we want to be as a nation and on what basis we want to build our society. There is a danger in the current proposals, as with other proposals of the current Government, that we will be heading down the path of individualism and the 'market economy' at the expense of the common good and collective responsbility for the most vulnerable.

As the Commission rightly says in its Paper, 'It is because of the nature and purpose of work that employees cannot be treated like other parts of an economic process, with their value assessed only in economic terms. Employees cannot be treated as commodities, nor can their labour be treated in purely economic terms'. This is the discussion we have to have and if the current Industrial Relations proposals are the trigger for it, then that is at least one good thing to come from them.

(Ed. The full Discussion Paper from ACCER can be found on the Diocesan website - www.broomediocese.org or on the ACCER website at www.accer.asn.au/papers/index.htm.

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