Public Sector Workers to be Denied Access to NSW Industrial Commission

The NSW Liberal Government has introduced a bill into NSW Parliament which will take away the rights of public sector workers to access an independent industrial relations tribunal.

The Industrial Relations Amendment (Public Sector Conditions of Employment) Bill (NSW) makes it mandatory for the NSW Industrial Commission to adopt the NSW Government’s wages policy – and any other policy regarding terms and conditions of public sector workers.

Clearly in the minds of the Liberal party WorkChoices is not dead, and given the opportunity, conservative governments are prepared to legislate away the rights of working people.

The NSW government’s wages policy is 2.5% increase per annum, which is below the rate of inflation which was 3.3% pa to March 2011. (ABS)

The Baillieu government has advised the public sector unions that its policy is also a 2.5% wage increase for public sector workers in Victoria, and tried to tell us that this was the same as the CPI!