The Australian Greens will use its numbers in Parliament to block any attempt by an Abbott government to remove workplace rights, Greens Deputy Leader and workplace relations spokesperson Adam Bandt MP said today.
Coalition spokesperson Senator Eric Abetz told a conference of the Australian Industry Group today that the Coalition would engage in a crackdown on unions, including restoring the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and make changes to laws on individual agreements.
“The Greens will use our numbers in Parliament to resist any attempt to attack Australians’ rights at work,” Mr Bandt said today.
“The Greens will oppose Coalition attempts to trash the rule of law and the right to silence by reinstating the Australian Building and Construction Commission. A person should not have less rights than an accused criminal simply because they work in the building industry."
“The Greens also believe that collective agreements should be stuck to once they’re made. An employer shouldn’t be able to undercut wages and conditions by making a collective agreement and then later ‘contracting out’ of their obligations through lesser deals with individual workers.”
“The Greens stick to our principles and in the next Parliament, we will be the best protection against an Abbott assault on people’s rights at work.”
“We are yet to see the Coalition’s full policy, but Eric Abetz have given us a taste and it doesn’t taste good. Labor now needs to guarantee it would vote with the Greens to block these moves in Parliament if we are faced with an Abbott government after September 14.”
Mr Bandt will outline the Greens’ approach to workplace relations in a speech to the Australian Industry Group conference in Canberra tomorrow morning.