FWA Review must address issues raised by Economist Intelligence Unit Report
Wednesday, 01 August 2012 12:09
The rigour and value of the long awaited Fair Work Act Review will be judged on how it deals with the issues raised by the Economist Intelligence Unit report into the competitive performances of various Nations, Senator Abetz said today.
It is a matter of regret that Australias relatively poor performance against significant benchmarks has been dismissed by Mr Shorten and the President of Fair Work Australia.
To try to continue with the mantra that Australia is in a low industrial dispute environment when the facts state otherwise is not only disingenuous, but harmful to our economic wellbeing.
To describe a more than doubling of days lost from 117,000 to 257,000 in one year as situation normal is neither helpful nor conducive to a mindset determined to deal with the growing militancy issue.
Not only do we have the days lost doubling, we are also ranked behind countries such as the US, UK and New Zealand at 34 out of 51 countries. And this ranking comes from the Union friendly International Labor Organisation.
A fundamental test for Mr Shorten as he considers what the Government intends to implement from the FWA Review will be whether or not he addresses concerns surrounding productivity, militancy and workplace flexibility, issues that were also highlighted by the EIU report.
If he simply decides to do nothing it will be further proof of his ostrich like approach to the growing body of evidence suggesting reform, Senator Abetz said.
