The Labor Party is being urged to restore the rights of unions, including the right to strike, and use the levers of government to actively support the growth of trade unionism in an effort to challenge the forces driving economic, social and political inequality in Australia.
In a detailed discussion paper, commissioned by the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union and distributed to delegates ahead of the ALP National Conference tomorrow (Sunday), former St Vincent de Paul Society chief executive Dr John Falzon urges Labor to embrace a practical policy commitment that promotes and supports unionism in its national policy platform and program for government.
Goodbye Neoliberalism: Restoring democracy, supporting trade unions, protecting workers' rights argues that recent decades have seen deregulation and flexibility overwhelmingly benefit corporate interests, exposing workers to legalised exploitation within the labour market and exclusion outside of it.
"During more than a decade heading up Vinnies, I saw first hand as growing inequality forced a growing number of Australian families into poverty," Dr Falzon said.
"We clearly need to increase the level of Newstart and other payments, but we also need to address the growth of poverty among people in paid employment.
"When once it could be said that the best path out of poverty was a job, the dividing line between labour market inclusion and exclusion has all but been erased, with forty percent of workers now in insecure, precarious work."
Dr Falzon's report recommends the Labor National Conference amend its national policy platform to:
introduce a living wage;
develop the framework for a social guarantee, including access to decent jobs, adequate social security, housing, education, health and transport;
reform the taxation system so that corporations and high wealth individuals pay their fair share and so that government can fully fund the social guarantee;
restore the rights of unions, including the right to strike;
implement government procurement rules that support trade unionism;
make industry assistance conditional on having a unionised workforce;
eliminate sham contracting and define casual work rather than leaving it up to employers; and
subject legislation across all portfolios, including international trade, to an inequality impact test.
"The people bearing the brunt of growing economic, political and social inequality are working people, including those denied decent jobs, while those benefiting are large corporations and the already rich," Dr Falzon said.
"The Liberal-National government and the vested interests it represents do not view this growth of inequality as a policy failure, rather, they embrace the unfettered individualism that allows the few to exploit and exclude the many.
"Labor must head into next year's election with clear policies for challenging the Liberal-National government's attacks on working people, including its efforts to dis-organise labour, privatise the public sphere, dismantle the social security system, and cut areas of social expenditure, including education, health and housing.
"The Labor Party was founded as a political vehicle for people who had been silenced, and throughout its history has been strongest when it has listened to working people organised in unions.
"If Labor in government is to be true to its professed commitment to addressing inequality it must recognise and reinvigorate its historical unity of purpose with the labour movement."
Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union national secretary Michael O'Connor said Dr Falzon's paper should be the starting point for a discussion within the Labor Party, the broader labour movement, and Australian society, about the direction we want our nation to head.
"This is not simply a call to action for the Labor Party, it is a starting point for a national conversation about the proper role of organised labour in a democratic society," Mr O'Connor said.
"Strong unions are an essential part of a democratic society, which is why re-energising the collective voice for working people is more important than ever.
"In recent decades, the voice and interests of working people have been increasingly drowned out by the greed of big business, resulting in growing inequality. Meaningful and fulfilling jobs have been sacrificed at the altar of flexibility and casualisation.
"Big business has been aided by conservative governments that use the power of the state to oppress and suppress attempts by working people to organise and restore balance and a fair go, changing the rules in the interest of big business.
"Record low wage growth and inequality are hurting our economy and our society. Wages will only improve if we improve the voice and bargaining power of workers through strengthening trade unions and increasing trade union membership.
"Labor needs to embrace the fact that governments have a moral responsibility to support the growth of democratic organisations that promote a robust democracy and whose purpose is to advance the interests of working people."
A copy of Goodbye Neoliberalism: Restoring democracy, supporting trade unions, protecting workers' rights is attached.
