It is quite insulting workers to be told that they are incapable of negotiating with their employers without a union. The message from the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union to employees at the Tweed Valley Fruit Processing Company is that the employees are to stupid or ignorant to negotiate a deal with the company in their own best interests. The employees disagree. They have traded off some of their sick pay for extra wages. It is notorious that some people in the workforce use all their sick leave, whether sick or not. Having a smaller entitlement might reduce sick days taken and therefore reduce costs to the company. This can be passed on in higher wages.
Some employees might be prepared to wear the loss if they use more than the new lower allowance, or they might want to insure against catastrophic illness. They do not need a union to tell them of the risks and benefits. If they want a union to represent them, fine. If they don’t, then there is no role for the union.
Before the election, a full bench of the Industrial Relations Commission, at the union’s behest, said the sick-leave trade off breached the no-disadvantage test and was invalid. The company with the support of the new Government will argue in the Industrial Court that the full bench should not have heard the union appeal.
The case illustrates the need to change the legislation so that unions are allowed in when employees want them but are excluded when employees do not.