BARRY O'Farrell has declared war on NSW workers.
Imagine if your boss told you you're now only entitled to two weeks' annual leave a year - and that you're going to work a 50-hour week with no extra money, and you can forget about paid sick leave
If you're employed by the public sector a nurse, teacher or a police officer under legislation introduced by the Liberal party last week, this could happen to you. And there will be absolutely nothing you can do about it.
No court will be able to arbitrate it; no independent body can review it. When it comes to industrial relations, the Liberals can't help themselves.
People often say they can't tell the difference between Labor and Liberal anymore and to an some extent, this is true. The ideological wars between the Left and the Right have largely been fought, and won or lost.
There is a general acceptance that some kind of welfare state must exist; that health care must be universal, and that public schools should be well funded. Superannuation, introduced by the Hawke Labor government, the subject of frenzied debate at the time, is now something of a sacred cow.
Similarly, Liberals as a collective are not anti-immigration, and, by and large, support Medicare.
There is unspoken agreement that these things must be protected by both sides of the political divide.
Not so with industrial relations. It seems workplace reform is the only reason for being the Liberals have left.
O'Farrell has now set himself up for industrial war with the state's nurses, teachers, bus drivers and police.
He has, without the slightest reference to it pre-election, introduced legislation that is worse than WorkChoices, the draconian laws that brought John Howard undone.
It's not going to be pretty. The new laws are a betrayal of the very people who voted for O'Farrell in droves.
Under the laws introduced on Tuesday night, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission will become nothing more than a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Liberal Party; unable to exercise its powers independently.
The laws will affect 400,000 NSW workers and will have a profound effect on NSW's industrial landscape.
The Government will be able to enact policies on everything from wages to leave entitlements, such as maternity leave, annual leave, penalty rates; even teacher and nurse ratios.
No matter how unjust, workers will have no recourse under the law. They won't get their day in court because the court's powers have been legislated away.
O'Farrell has obliterated centuries of common law principles and the right to judicial review.
As Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon put it: "This is an unprecedented assault on the rights of public-sector workers to have their day in court to determine their wages and conditions".
It is sheer madness. The union movement will not take it lying down; neither will the workers of NSW. The Police Association is filthy.
They're threatening to march on Parliament in protest something we haven't seen in a really long time. As the president of the Police Association of NSW Scott Weber said: "Wait until they see police in full action."
Just as industrial relations is the Liberal Party's reason for being, it's the union movement's, too. And we're used to these sorts of fights. And we're pretty good at them.
After 16 years of relative industrial peace, the union movement will mobilise against WorkChoicesNSW.
And we know why O'Farrell wouldn't release his policies before the election now he knew that not one public-sector worker would vote for him if he told the truth about his despicable plans.
But now the truth is out there. And it's not pretty.
Paul Howes is national secretary of the Australian Workers' Union
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/barry-ofarrells-new-laws-worse-...
"After 16 years of relative industrial peace, the union movement will mobilise against WorkChoicesNSW.
And we know why O'Farrell wouldn't release his policies before the election now he knew that not one public-sector worker would vote for him if he told the truth about his despicable plans.
But now the truth is out there. And it's not pretty."
Hear, hear !
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