ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER
MR. E. G. WHITLAM
TO THE FIRST COMMIONWEALTH CONFERENCE
OF THE AMALGAMATED METALWORKERS?
UNION MUSICIANS' CLUB, 94 CHALMERS
STREET, SYDNEY, ' 11 MAY 1973
UNIONS AN]) THE GOVERNMENT
This conference is the culmination of an historic process of
change within the metal trades unions. It is alsot I hope, the forerunner
of a similar process of change throughout the whole trade union
movement. The purpose of this change is to produce unions that are
more effective, more efficient and more democratic. What you have
achieved will have a far-reaching impact on the well-being of every
Australian worker and his family. Its importance cannot be overestimated.
The Amalgamated Metalworkerst Union is indeed ahead of its
time. It has put into effect, or is actively pursuing, many of the aims
and reforms embodied in the industrial legislation passed by the House
of Representatives this week. Your union has set the pace, and set an
example, for the rest of Australia. You are not only the biggest union
in Australia as a result of your recent amalgamation: you are among the
most democratic in your internal administration. It is a remarkable fact
that of the 144 delegates to your first Commonwealth conference this
week, 85% have come direct from the work-bench. You have demonstrated
that the amalgamation of unions, and the concentration of industrial
strength in larger organisations, can be achieved without creating an
unwieldy bureaucracy or diminishing the rights of individual members.
The emphasis you have always placed on participatory democracy, on
industrial safety, on the importance of industrial agreements, on trade
union education, is reflected in the legislation introduced in the
national Parliament by my colleague, the Minister for Labour, and passed
this week. The success with which you have tackled these matters augurs
well for the success of our bill. In the face of much-sitfident clamour
from our opponents, you have shown what can be done.
Today I want to announce some further plans of the Government
to improve the rights and conditions of trade unionists and promote
better industrial relations in Australia. But first let me deal with
some of the broad principles underlying our approach to industrial
matters, This year has been on the whole a harmonious one in industrial
relations. There has been no major or prolonged industrial stoppage,
and the general morale within the trade union movement is high.
I do not, of course, want to downgrade your legitimate
grievances or fears. Many of them are shared by the Government, and
I shall have more to say about that later0 But you will all remember
what our opponents were saying before the last election. There were
all sorts of calamity-howlers predicting strife and dissention, union
blackmail9 industrial chaos and the breakdown of law and order if Labor
achieved power0 I hardly need to tell you how baseless and puerile these
statements look now0 Today we have a new understanding and a new trust
between the Government and the unions. We want to ensure that the same
understanding and trust prevail between unions and employersw
-2-
That indeed is the purpose of our recent conciliation and
arbitration legislation. There can be no trust or understanding in
industry if one side feels itself to be aggrieved or the victim of
discrimination,. There can be no trust or goodwill if union officials
are open to civil prosecution for upholding their members' interests.
There can be no trust or goodwill if the law makes a criminal of the
working man who chooses to withdraw his labour,. There can be no trust
or goodwill if compulsory arbitration takes precedence over direct and
amicable conciliation and discussion between the parties to a dispute.
All these aspects of the old law are being removed. There is no need
for me to rehearse the provisions of our legislation, which must be
famil~ iar to you all. I shall, however, mention our proposals on union
amalgamation, since they are closely relevant to what your own union has
been doing. We give a high priority to efforts to encourage amalIgamations.
Even the Opposition supports amalgamation in principle, though they
capitulated last year to the DLP's opposition to amalgamations when
industrial legislation was before the Parliament. The Opposition had
a chance to demonstrate this week that it was free of the shackles of
the DLP by supporting our amalgamation proposal. They failed to do so,
Yet we all know the benefits that amalgamations can bring. They can
strengthen the negotiating power of unions and equip them for conditions
of modern industrial bargaining between ever-growing corporations and
large Government employers. It is absurd that we should have mor+! than
305 separate trade unions in Australia with half of them having fi. wer
than * 1,000 members and only 14 with a membership of more than 50,000.
In West Germany, with a much larger population, and with one of the
lowest rates of industrial stoppages in Europe, there are only 16
unions. Their Metal Workerst Union has more than 2 million members.
It, is just as important that unions should be strong enough to withstand
the power of big corporations as it is that Governments should be strong
enough to withstand the same pressures
The benefits of amalgamation have been demonstrated by your own
union, We are determined that the opportunity for amalgamation should be
cast as widely as possible so that smaller unions, in particular, will
be able to avail themselves of this reform if they want it. In this way
they can enjoy savings in administrative costs and the elimination of
waste and duplicated work. They can afford higher salaries for their
officials, and draw their officials from a greater poo. of talent that
a small union can offer.. They would be able to afford libraries,, research
staff and independent economic and legal advice which may now be beyond
their resources,* Let me quote what Mr. Lynch, the Deputy Leader of the
Opposition, said about anion amalgamations in Melbourne on 2 March 1972:
" It is fair to say that provided the membership of industrial organisations
does not lose effective control as a result of amalgamations, there are
many advantages which can accrue from amalgamation. For instance, there
are some 300 unions in Australia. Most of them are very small,. It could
facilitate the functioning of the arbitration system and relations
generally between employers and unions if this number of unions decreased'.
I know of situations in which employers have sat across the table with no
fewer than 15 unions in relation to one issue. Government departments
have had this experiencelw" 0 .0
-3-
It is good to know there is on Opposition member on our side,
who supports what your union has been doing.. From what I heart they are
even talking now of amalgamations among the numerous Opposition parties.
That applies to the DLP and the Country Party. The Country Party and the
Liberal Party have not yet decided whether to amalgamate or not.. They
have only just settled the question of who is the second most important
person in the Opposition,~ The example of the Metal Workorst Union should
commend itself to them. I suppose there is always a risk in the eyes of
the DLP that an amalgamated Opposition would fall under Communist control.
The other thing I should like to stress about our industrial
legislation is that we have a clear public mandate for it. Our proposals
were fiibmly stated in my policy speech for -the House of Representatives
election. They were publicly determined by the Federal Conference of
the Australian Labor Party in Launceston in 1971. They have been given
wide publicity. Mr. Cameron, the Minister for Labour, has expounded
and explained them fully in speeches throughout Australia, In these
circumstances we cannot and will not tolerate interference with our
proposals from the Senate. In my press conference this week I made it
clear and I state it again that the rejection of these proposals
would have to be studied in the context of the provisions of the
Constitution for a double dissolutioi. On a bill of substance such as
this, we would not brook interference with our publicly-en~ lorsed program
to promote industrial harmony and to remove injustices against the
working people who comprise the majority of our population.
There is another important area in which the national Government
can protect the interests of the working man. That is in the control
of prices and inflation. I spoke earlier of what I know to be your
legitimate grievances and fears and the fear of unjustified price
rises is the foremost of these fears. Yesterday I attended a conference
of the Premiers in Canberrat a conference called on the initiative of
the Victorian Premier, at which I put forward a series of proposals
designed to combat inflation in co-operation with the States. The
Australian Government has already taken a number of measures, including
revaluation of the dollar and the introduction of prices justification
machinery, in a determined program to keep prices down,. But direct
control of prices can, if necessary, only be taken as part of a national
plan in which the State Governments co-operate fully. They alone have
the powers. There is a powerful body of opinion which believes that
inflationary tendencies can be checked only be restraint on incomes, or
at least by means of a combined prices and incomes policy,. That view
was put to yesterdayfs conference by three conservative State Governments.
On the question of incomes I had this to say to Premiers in my opening
statement, and I quote:
" Some take the position that the be-all and end-all of antiinflationary
policies is to fulminate against wage rises. That is not
our position. On the contrary, we have moved to correct, in the areas
under our own control, some evident anomalies and injustices. We have
acted to increase social service payments to those-who have been most
cruelly harmed by inflation. We make no apology for acting quickly to
honour our election pledges in these fields>. 0
-4-
We are happy that in Tuesday's aecision the Arbitration
Commission has recognised the particular needs of low wage earners in
giving them a substantial rise from the unrealistically low levels of
the recent past. The Government does not take a rigid and doctrinaire
position on the-se matters and our attitude to future wage claims, in
National Wage Cases and elsewhere, will pay full regard to all of the
circumstances, social and economict which prevail at the time."
Let me tell you of some of the measures we contemplate to
encourage a more informed and more efficient trade union movement and to
improve working conditions in industry..
First, accidents. We are determined to reduce the incidence
of industrial accidents and occupational disease. We have announced
new plans for compensation but our prime concern is to prevent
accidents rather than alleviate their effects. The Government will draw
up a new uniform industrial safety code to apply throughout Government
departments and instrumentalities and in all establishments in the A. C. T.
With proper precautions accidents can be prevented. This has been clearly
demonstrated by BHP, where there has been a 93 percent reduction in
accidents in the past 15 years and this in an industry, iron and steel,
which must be ranked among the most dangerous.
Second, supervision. We are anxious that safety conditions
and all the provisions of industrial awards should be more effectively
supervised. We propose * to appoint another 100 arbitration inspectors
to police awards and safety standards,. One-third of them will be tradeunionists
with a working knowledge of their industries.
Third, trade union education. A well-educated and efficient
trade union leadership is crucial to good industrial relations. Your
union has taken the lead in this field by setting up its own training
schools. Unions should have have to dissipate their resources in this
way,. Such training should be a Government responsibility like all other
forms of education. My Government will finance a national training
college with a centre in each capital city to train unionists and offer
overseas study scholarships to those with special talents.
Fourth, apprenticeship. The Government is concerned at the
failure of some employers to engage sufficient apprentices to meet their
needs. This was possible because, under old immigration laws, employers
were content to bring in tradesmen from overseas while neglecting the
training of our own workmen. The Department of Labour is studying the
possibility of introducing one year's " block training" of apprentices,
instead of obliging them to spread their technical education
intermittently over four years. The year of " block training" wouldt if
implemented, be followed by three years' apprenticeship on the job,
making a total of four years altogether,.
We believe these measures will contribute further to the wellbeing
of workers and to enlightened and harmonious industrial relations.
No Government has a greater interest than mine in preserving and strengthening
the foundations of industrial peace in this country. No union
has a greater interest than yours in ensuring the success of these
endeavours. I am confident that Government and unions can work
together as they have in the past for a more just and prosperous
society.