Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (German: Federal Court on industrial disputes and -schlichtungen ) from 1904 was the first Australian Industrial Arbitration Court, which after the hard conflicts between labor and capital late 19th century and defeats of the early labor movement in Australia in 1904 originated. Until 1954, this national court passed decisions on employment relationships in the tension between labor and capital, which had the status of law. In the period that followed, there have been changes in the tasks of this institution through political influences and changes to this day.
The decisions of the courts were political because of the interests to be negotiated, and labor laws were and are decided politically by federal and state parliaments.
The system of labor regulations in Australia with courts and commissions is assessed differently politically, but it worked well as long as there was a balance of interests between labor and capital. There have been several attempts in history to abolish the labor law system. Most recently, in 2006, the liberal - nationalist- conservative coalition government of John Howard initiated legal steps that were in the interests of capital. The effect of Howard's legal change had little effect, as the collective agreements made in the past had long-term effects and the government of the Australian Labor Party of Kevin Rudd won the national election in 2007 and repealed the liberalist legislation.
Arbitration
The fundamental right to enact labor laws in Australia rests in the hands of the parliaments of the federal government, so-called Commonwealth Australia , and the respective state governments.
The decisions of the arbitral tribunals had legal character for pay and working conditions in industries, professions or for certain jobs. They concern qualification criteria, working hours, regulations on part-time, occasional and overtime work, vacation, illness and maternity leave, company pensions, dismissals, trade union training opportunities, training of apprentices and interns, but also contractual penalties and other economic aspects.
The Australian arbitration tribunals also set national minimum wages and are legally required to use economic factors in determining minimum wages and to take into account objections from unions, employers and governments. Only a few trade union leaders were and are involved in this system, whose task it is - if no agreement is reached - to mobilize their unions. Their function was to formulate employee interests and to enforce them politically.
history
prehistory
The beginning of the Australian labor movement lies in the major strike movements at the end of the 19th century such as the Maritime Strike (1890), the Sheep Shearers Strikes in 1891 and 1894 and the Broken Hill Strike (1892) that took place during the first Australian economic crisis from 1889 to Took place in 1894. The clashes were fierce, and in the sheep shearers strike in 1894, firearms and the police were used against strikers. Against these unions suffered defeats, the labor movement managed to convince the population that there should be a counterbalance to the power of the employers and the state and the Australian arbitration system came into being.
Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
On December 15, 1904, the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration was first established in Australia on a legal basis.
In 1907 this court established the admissibility of a minimum wage for the first time in a legal dispute by Judge Henry Bournes Higgins. This decision for a so-called fair basic wage ( minimum wage ) determines Australia's wage policy to this day.
The courts of arbitration were reformed under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act (1926), which meant that court decisions affecting the vital interests of the population were made by the entire judges' assembly and that Conciliation Commissioners had to be appointed as mediators . The first commissioner was appointed in 1934 and only ten were appointed in 1944.
The Australian Prime Minister Stanley Bruce wanted to abolish arbitration in 1929, but he did not succeed and Bruce became so unpopular that he not only lost the next national election, but also became the first Prime Minister to lose the election in his own constituency.
When the judge Lionel Lukin at the Australian Court of Arbitration increased the working hours from 44 to 48 hours with the same wages in 1929 during the time of the Great Depression , this resulted in a wage reduction of around 10% for woodworkers. This led to the Australian woodworkers strike . As a result, employers of the woodworkers appealed to the court of arbitration. Lukin then fined the union and the union secretary and, for the first time in Australia's history, had a strike held by secret ballot.
In 1930 the Court of Arbitration reduced general working hours from 48 to 44 hours a week, and in 1947 it reduced it to 40 hours.
Despite the court of arbitration, the employers could be sure of the support of the state, and the Australian Labor Party government under Ben Chifley did not shy away from using the military against strikers, as in the Australian coal mine strike of 1949 . In this strike the Communist Party of Australia had a strong influence and the Labor government saw its influence in the working class waning and wanted by this measure to reduce the influence of the Communist Party . This move ultimately led to the Australian Labor Party's influence on the population dwindling and it to lose the next election.
Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission
The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration was dissolved in 1956 after the so-called Boilermakers Case by a decision of the Federal Court of Australia , since this Labor Arbitration Court was not composed according to the principle of the separation of powers - in the sense of a clear judiciary . After this decision, two new institutions were set up, the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (German: Federal Commission for Labor Disputes and Arbitration ) (from 1973 to 1998 called the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission ) - a commission, and the Commonwealth Industrial Court (German: Australian Industrial Court) - a court that was later incorporated into the Federal Court of Australia .
Australian Industrial Relations Commission
From 1988, which was Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission in Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) ( Australian Commission for industrial employment renamed).
Since the mid-1980s, however, the application of this centralized system of arbitration and verdicts has been steadily restricted: first by the creation of company-related collective bargaining, and more recently by changes in labor laws introduced by the Australian government. Since 1996, Australia has been governed by a coalition of the Liberal Party of Australia and the Nationalist Party of Australia with John Howard as Prime Minister at its head. During this phase, the main legislative changes were passed, which were intended to undermine the previous system and the influence of the trade unions.
With the introduction of a legislative package by the Prime Minister John Howard in 2006, which in Australia as Work Choices (German: job selection ) has become known, the legal relationship between labor and capital in changing Australia fundamentally. The courts of arbitration were abolished, and the new legal regulation made it possible for individual employment contracts, so-called AWAs ( Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA), German: Workplace Agreement in Australia ), to be freely negotiated by employers.
In essence, by introducing individual workplace agreements, the Conservative government wanted to reduce union influence and weaken it by means of individual contracts, which have the same legal status as union-negotiated collective agreements, to the exclusion of the trade unions .
Australian Fair Pay Commission
The Howard government's goal with WorkChoices legislation of 2006 was to “create a single national system of labor rights that would remove workers from the protection of state labor laws and the influence of unions, commissions and labor arbitration awards over wages and working conditions are limited. "
According to the new legal regulations, the new contracts to be concluded only had to meet five minimum criteria:
- Minimum wage: then 12.75 Australian dollars an hour - less for young workers under 21
- Four weeks of annual leave, two of which could be paid as wages at the request of the employee
- 10 days of paid personal or health-related absence, including absence due to illness
- 38-hour week on average (overtime should be avoided)
- 52 weeks of unpaid parental leave after the birth / adoption of a child
The option of setting wages for AIRC was transferred to the newly established Australian Fair Pay Commission (German: Australian Commission for fair pay ). The tasks of the AIRC were limited to the "modernization" of the employment relationships, hearing in the event of unjustified dismissals and the decision of this commission on the occurrence of strikes.
On November 15, there was an Australia-wide day of protest with more than 500,000 people against the proposed legislation of the Howard government. In 2006 there were further demonstrations with 100,000 protesters against the new law, which the Howard administration could not give in.
Fair Work Australia
The Howard government was voted out of office in 2007, and the legal changes it had introduced since the beginning of its government had little de facto impact on the relationship between labor and capital, as a large part of the regulations reflected the results of previous arbitration and settlement proceedings and because of existing collective agreements and the existence of independent commissions, labor standards and minimum wages were fixed in the long term.
The new opposition leader of the Liberal Party, Brendan Nelson , admitted on December 19, 2007 that the lost national election was due in particular to the introduction of the WorkChoices legislation : “We have listened and we have learned, and one of the issues that was very important to the Australian people in changing the Government on November 24 was that of WorkChoices, [...] and WorkChoices is dead. "(German:" We take note and have learned that one of the decisive reasons for voting out the Conservative Government [of Howard] on November 24th, 2007 by the Australian population the WorkChoices were, [...] and the Workchoices are dead. ")
Before his election victory in 2007 over the Howard government, Kevin Rudd of the Labor Party named the abolition of the WorkChoices and the AWAs as a stated goal . The Rudd government abolished the AWAS and the AIRC and transferred the tasks of the AIRC in January 2010 to the newly founded division Fair Work Australia at the Federal Court of Australia (German: Faire Arbeit in Australien ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g labournet.de WorkChoices - no choice for workers: Donna McGuire: Australia's labor legislation as a prototype of a neoliberal counterrevolution, Part I , accessed on March 10, 2011
- ↑ foundingdocs.gov.au ( RTF ; 144 kB): Relating to Conciliation and Arbitration for the Prevention and Settlement of Industrial Disputes extending beyond the Limits of any one State from December 15, 1904, accessed on March 10, 2011
- ↑ aph.gov.au ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : EX PARTE HV McKAY, accessed March 10, 2011
- ^ Australian Trade Union Archives : Commonwealth Court of Conciliation & Arbitration (1904-1956) (English), accessed on March 10, 2011
- ↑ austlii.edu.au : R v Kirby; Ex parte Boilermakers 'Society of Australia ("Boilermakers' case") [1956] HCA 10; (1956) 94 CLR 254 (March 2, 1956 ), accessed March 10, 2011
- ↑ comlaw.gov.au : Workplace Relations Regulations 2006. Series , accessed on March 10, 2011
- ↑ actu.org.au ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Sharan Burrow: Community Protest Against New IR Laws Bigger Than Expected November 15, 2005, accessed March 11, 2011
- ↑ Junge Welt : Mass demonstration in Australia: Protest against the undermining of labor law , accessed on March 10, 2011
- ↑ ABC News : Nelson declares WorkChoices dead , accessed on March 11, 2011
