Senator Eric Abetz

“Today’s announcement that Schweppes in Australia will lock out 150 of its workers after rolling industrial action shows that there is a bigger problem with the Fair Work Act,” Opposition Workplace Relations spokesman Senator Eric Abetz said today.

“This is the latest following Qantas and POAGS lock-outs and it is now clear that there is a bigger problem,” Senator Abetz said today.

Small and medium businesses have had a rude shock today to learn that the Federal Government has published 601 pages of regulation to go with the harmonised work health and safety laws.

The harmonised laws come into effect on 1 January 2012. Julia Gillard somehow expects workers and their bosses in States with the ‘harmonised’ laws to be fully compliant with all of the regulations, and they have just 16 days to do so.

“Prime Minister Julia Gillard must rule out immediately any moves by militant unionist Kevin Harkins to be parachuted into the Senate seat made vacant by the retiring Tasmanian Labor Senator Nick Sherry,” Senator Abetz said today.

“If she doesn’t then Ms Gillard will be openly defying the express wishes of both the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Labor’s own Federal Executive.”

As incoming workplace relations Minister Bill Shorten is facing his first test in the new role he has passed the parcel onto his predecessor, despite doing back to back media interviews at the drop of a hat over recent days talking about workplace relations matters and all throughout the Qantas dispute.

POAGS a supplier of stevedoring logistics and port management services, has locked out 320 workers at Fremantle and Bunbury in Western Australia and Port Kembla in NSW after claiming bans imposed by the Maritime Union of Australia had rendered parts of its business unviable.