From today’s Age,

"Q. HOW can a worker have any bargaining power with their employer if the employer can sack them at will? It seems that if the employee doesn’t accept the terms, the employer can simply find someone who will. How does the employee or job candidate hold any power in the negotiation?"

"A. ULTIMATELY, a worker’s bargaining power is their power to quit. You will have power in the negotiation if the employer fears losing you and having to find someone else who would give less value for money.
That could become more significant in the long term as the job market tightens. But it will be mainly in big cities, and for younger, childless workers with less to lose in gambling on finding a new job.
It is illegal for employers to sack workers for refusing to sign an agreement. In law, you are able to say no.
If you are sacked, you can go to the Industrial Relations Commission to seek reinstatement, but it can only mediate. In the end, sacked workers can enforce the law only by a costly court case. Few have tried.
The Government will offer sacked workers up to $4000 of legal advice to explore their options if the commission says their claim has merit. But that would not pay for the court case."

Our WorkChoices are related to how much value for money we represent.  Will a scale be set up to assign points to these values?

1. No children under five = 10 bonus points.  
2. Not caring for elderly parent = 15 bonus points
3. Stay at home partner = 20 bonus points
4. No dependents = 50 bonus points
5. Union member = 5 negative points     

Our WurkRites™ come down to the right to quit.

My Sociology lecturer liked to say,

"the rich are also free to rummage through the garbage bins for food…"  

Image from here   

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2005 at 12:45 pm and is filed under WurkRites™. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Click to leave a comment.