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 Home Campaign Bulletins PSA Campaign Bulletin
NSW Lotteries and WorkChoices13 November 2006BackgroundBy now, most of you are aware of the sweeping Industrial Relations changes the Federal Government implemented earlier this year.The Howard Government's WorkChoices legislation abandoned the Award system (which provides a comprehensive safety net for working people) and introduced a variety of workplace agreements. These workplace agreements need only have five minimum conditions:
Howard's WorkChoices also abandons unfair dismissal laws for businesses with less than 100 employees.
WHAT ELSE HAS HAPPENEDHigh Court ChallengeIn May of this year, State and Territory Governments together with the unions, including the PSA, challenged the constitutional validity of WorkChoices in the High Court of Australia. The Full Bench of the Court handed down its decision on November 14. The Howard laws were ruled legal.
State Owned Corporations and WorkChoicesThe NSW Labor Government has committed to protecting the employees of State Owned Corporations and announced that:
No part of the NSW Labor Government will use WorkChoices to cut pay and conditions. In line with this commitment, the NSW Industrial Relations Act created Preserved State Agreements to carry over the entitlements and conditions of the NSW Lotteries Award until its expiry next June. This does not mean that employees of NSW Lotteries are safe from WorkChoices. If there is a change of State Government in NSW on 24 March 2007 it is likely that there would be some change to the employment status of State Owned Corporations.
Meeting with NSW LotteriesOn August 22, PSA staff and delegates met with the Director of Corporate Services and Human Resources Manager in relation to a bulletin distributed by NSW Lotteries providing staff with information relating to WorkChoices. Our concerns were that the bulletin's content was quite similar to that provided by the Howard Government's website. We were informed by NSW Lotteries that the Public Employment Office had viewed their draft bulletin and advised them to alter the first paragraph to make it more objective and less like the Federal Government's version of WorkChoices. This advice was not followed. The PSA understands that while the Board of Directors approved information to be distributed to staff on the industrial relations changes, they had not seen or approved the final content.
Challenges for workers of NSW LotteriesThe NSW Lotteries Corporation (Salaries, Allowances and Conditions of Employment) 2004 Award expires on 30 June 2007. This means that in early 2007, the PSA and NSW Lotteries will start negotiating a new industrial agreement to cover all workers of NSW Lotteries.WorkChoices threatens the right of employees to bargain collectively, undermining collective agreements by allowing individual employees to enter into Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs - also known as individual contracts), the strength of which will rely solely on an employee's ability to bargain effectively with the management and all their resources. The collective strength of PSA members at NSW Lotteries sticking together and backing each other has led to the management of NSW Lotteries agreeing to include conditions such as:
Your Award contains pay and condition increases on an equal level to those of the Crown Employees Award. Union collective agreements overcome the unequal bargaining power of isolated individuals trying to negotiate separately with the employer and their resources. The PSA is committed to continuing to negotiate union collective agreements for NSW Lotteries workers that are strong and comprehensive. Early next year, we will be consulting with PSA members regarding negotiation and seeking your participation in our negotiating team.
What you can doThe "Your Rights at Work: Worth Fighting For" community campaign has helped to draw working communities and families together. The greatest challenge is increasing community awareness of the impact the laws will have. That's why it's critical that all working people remain informed and active in their workplaces and in their communities. We ask you to:
For any information about WorkChoices, the "Rights at Work" campaign, or any matters relating to NSW Lotteries, please contact your local delegates or Jacqui Nissim, PSA Organiser (9220 0904 or email: jnissim@psa.asn.au). Contact us: Should you have any questions regarding this bulletin please contact your PSA delegates
Andrew
Makrides and
Jim Privett on Or
PSA Organiser Or
Maria Cirillo
Contact Details Jacqui Nissim, Organiser Ph: 02 9220 0904 Fax: 02 9262 1623 jnissim@psa.asn.au  
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