respect for your history and opinion cappie.... yet reverse the equation and see how employers have damaged the rights of workers over the last 20 years.
its a very difficult challenge to find the "right" balance between employers and employees. perhaps we'' see that dynamic alter somewhat when the Gov holds its jobs and wages summit?
the Hawke Accord didn't bring industrial peace for long, if at all. Certainly Howard's War on Unions didn't help much either. but WorkChoices created a new level of industrial relations where some workers were more valued than many others. Mining interests gained employee loyalty through increasing wages of mine employees, while professional employees, such as health and education as well as many others, lost wages through increased job insecurity and the rise and rise of agencies to field casualisation. Howard's severe restrictions on striking caused much of this as well.
now to your last point, its true that Rudd and Gillard continued with Howard's WorkChoices push... yet it was Abbott who pushed the limits far beyond what was good for the balance where workers would have had some rights.
