UNIONS calling ''wildcat'' strikes face crippling fines of up to $220,000 a day under an exponential increase in penalties for unauthorised industrial action proposed by the Premier, Barry O'Farrell.
The new fines are an 11-fold increase in the penalties for contravening dispute orders of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.
They would rise from $10,000 for each day of a first offence to $110,000. The new penalty for a repeat offence rises to $220,000.
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Under the changes, the day of action organised by the NSW Teachers Federation last September would have attracted a fine of $220,000 instead of $20,000.
Mr O'Farrell said the penalties have not changed since 1996 and they would bring NSW into line with Queensland.
''It is time to update them so that unions will think twice before undertaking unauthorised industrial action,'' he said.
''We're not going to stand by and let unions call wildcat strikes in defiance of the industrial commission, and create havoc and turmoil for commuters, taxpayers and other people across this state.''
Mr O'Farrell also announced proposed changes to the Industrial Relations Act to allow an employee to choose which union they join. Under the present system, groups of workers in a particular job can be restricted to coverage by a specific union.
He said the change would bring NSW into line with federal industrial laws.
The government will also move to ''remove any doubt'' about its ability to sack public servants who are on the ''unattached list''.
The list provides for public servants who lose their jobs to continue being paid until a new permanent position is found.
The government announced the abolition of the list last year, but Mr O'Farrell said the NSW Industrial Court recently ruled that public servants could only be sacked from the list when there was no ''useful work'' available.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ofarrell-aims-to-make-unions-pay-for-wildcat-strike...
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