First Impressions: TPP Envisages World Where Do Nothing Tamecat Company Unions

Licenced By Employer

The TPP draft text has been released. Its been placed, inter alia, on Australias dfat.gov.au
website.

Chapter 19 Labour looks rather like an ambit claim by the lawyers of the H. R. Nicholls Society.
Other than the traditional lawyer cant about compensation and compensability, all thats up for
arbitrated negotiation is minimum wages maximum hours and occupational health and safety.

Take penalty rates. Under this chapter, a large employer (enterprise) can voluntarily (Article
19.7) exercise its corporate social responsibility and decree that in that said large employer
employees shall receive penalty rates on public holidays. Like Easter Friday. Christmas Day.
The state cannot impose a penalty rates policy.
Neither can an industrial tribunal.
Further, the special provisions regarding small and medium sized businesses Article 24 make
them immune from having to deal with corporate social responsibility suits by sympathetic
foreign trade union representatives agents or counsel to benefit the employees of said small and
medium sized businesses, said lawsuits demanding enforcement of penalty rate laws, allegedly
for undermining fair trade laws. No penalty rates then, not for small business.

Ditto for compulsory unionism suits. Such a policy requires the large enterprise to impose the
restriction on employment, at recruitment stage. This will not fit in with Australias bargaining
fee culture. Id advise the CMFEU and the ETU and United Voice that this TPP Chapter 19 neuters
Australias labour laws and suggest that to survive they raise this issue in the Senate to get this
deal abrogated ripped up and thrown in the rubbish bin