DESPITE concessions the ALP has failed to win the hearts and minds of the mining industry. Jamie Wade writes
An overwhelming majority of respondents (75%) to Australian Mining’s latest online poll said the mining industry would be ‘worse off’ under a Federal Labor Government.
At the heart of industry’s concerns: ALP’s industrial relations policy.
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) chief executive Steve Knott said while the ALP had lifted its game on the key policy areas of minimum standards and awards, industrial action and compliance, and right of entry it had continued to fail to meet the industry’s needs.
“Regrettably the ALP’s industrial relations policy does not meet the needs of the resources sector, which has operated successfully in a flexible and non-union dominated environment for over a decade,” he said.
Minerals Council chief executive Mitch Hooke agreed that while the ALP’s revised industrial relations policy represented an important shift in its preparedness to accommodate the industry’s main requirement for a modern and progressive IR system, it still fell short on real flexibility and choice.
“The ALP policy represents important movement but falls well short in the industry’s fundamental requirement for an appropriate substitute for the abolition of AWAs,” Hooke said.
The CFMEU says mineworkers on collective agreements typically earn more than $100,00 per year, while those on AWAs typically earn far less than that.
Australian Mining contacted the ALP with a list of questions on its mining policies well in advance of the deadline for this November issue, but received no reply.