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A subtle effect of dismissal regulation is that it penalises workers who are risky for employers, such as those returning to work after a break to rear children, those with a disability, or from particular racial groups. The most vulnerable in the labour market miss out as employers lean towards 'safe' workers.
Opponents of workplace regulation are well-resourced and powerful. In order to meet them head-on, the Government must do more than invoke the value of hard work. After all, if work automatically confers great dignity, what does it matter that conditions are unsatisfactory?
Despite extensive welfare activities, Catholics have made only a modest contribution to public debate about the economic foundations of family life. Yet the Australian institution that is most associated in the public mind with 'pro-family' policies is the Catholic Church.
The Rudd Government is attempting to sell its Fair Work Bill on the basis of 'balance', as compared with the Howard Government's WorkChoices Bill. This is like trying to strike a balance between Margaret Thatcher and Genghis Khan.
There are worrying signs that the Labor Government will interpret the grass-roots campaign against WorkChoices in the most conservative light possible. Catholic social thought defies any policy that results in a shift of power to the already powerful.
The union movement in Australia has fought hard to protect Australians' rights to equal pay for equal work, without discrimination. However the Howard Government's Work Choices legislation seems to have undermined this.
Work plays an immensely important role in personal, family and community relations. We can expect that the Federal Government's Work Choices legislation will have a significant impact on its election prospects.
Keith Harvey is a National Industrial Officer for the Australian Services Union and has worked in the union movement for almost 35 years. Over this time he has been a close observer of interplay between Christian social teaching and industrial law, and especially since the advent of the Federal Government’s WorkChoices legislation.
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