18/01/01
Premier Richard Court has challenged the Labor Party to release the secret deal it has struck with the union movement designed to decimate Western Australia’s workplace relations system.
Mr Court said Labor had been running scared on the issue of industrial relations and it had now become clear that they had reached a secret agreement with the unions to abolish individual agreements.
“Labor has tried to fudge the issue by saying they would replace workplace agreements with individual contracts - however, we now know that is nothing more than a sham,” the Premier said.
“It has now been claimed that at a meeting in September involving the Parliamentary Labor Party and unions, a deal was reached for the establishment of an inquiry into individual agreements to be completed within the first two years of a Labor Government.
“It’s understood that the agreement states….that until the inquiry is completed, the union movement regards individual agreements as transitory and sees that the review process will lead to total abolition.”
Mr Court said Labor’s secret blueprint would be a disaster for the WA economy.
“Since 1993 we have seen more than 200,000 jobs created under a Coalition Government, unemployment is now under six per cent, there has been sustained real wages growth and strong export performance,” he said.
“Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released a report which shows that the WA small business sector has consistently topped the country for growth and employment.
“All this is at risk under Labor’s plans to wreck this State’s industrial relations system.”
Media reference: Casey Cahill 9222 9475
