Working Australians want and deserve a government that is willing to stand up for Australian industries and Australian jobs.

In a rapidly changing workplace the ability of employees to access vocational education is also more important than ever. Skills, knowledge and adaptability are the keys to success and security in the modern workforce. But for too many employees their engagement with the formal learning system stops once they enter the qualified workforce. To get people back into the formal learning system we need to bring the learning system into the workplace.

Fair and productive workplaces require a collective bargaining system properly supported by training for employee union representatives in the workplace.

For an industrial relations system to operate fairly, all its participants must be empowered to fulfil their roles in a way that produces the best possible social and economic outcomes.

This can only be achieved if employees, as well as employers, have access to appropriate training and support. There is a legitimate and necessary role for government in supporting union education, particularly of workplace union delegates involved in enterprise bargaining.

If change is the new certainty of the modern workforce, then supporting employees to develop a life long commitment to formal skill development and education is one of the biggest challenges facing Australia.

If Australia wants an adaptable, competitive and secure workforce then the engagement of employees with the formal learning system needs to extend beyond an initial qualification.

Learning and skills need to be career long commitments. Achieving this means bringing the vocational learning system into the workplace.

Unions have an important role to play in this. They have a knowledge and commitment to vocational training and an infrastructure that gives them shop-floor access into all kinds of workers and workplaces right around the country.

The workplace learning representative program outlined in this document builds on the comparative advantages of unions and the broader labour movement to deliver practical outcomes for working Australians.

Australia also needs a government that is committed to Australian jobs and skills for Australian workers. It is simply not good enough that the future of our regions and our industries be left to the market. Other countries stand up for their jobs and Australia should too.

Companies can’t and won’t do it on their own. It is up to the government to act in the national interest and take the lead on industry and regional investment and planning.

Cooperatively developed policies are needed which invest in industries and regions and actively support employees affected by change in the economy.

After years of neglect, fiscal pressure and ideological attack, the role of the public sector in delivering services and building the nation needs to be clearly articulated.

Modern policies that support jobs, skills and services are needed in a number of key areas:

• union education
• workplace learning representatives
• vocational education and training
• industry policy
• structural adjustment
• public sector

Facts

• Unions have played an active and constructive role in supporting skill development and the VET system.

• More than one third of all employees are now covered by registered enterprise level collective agreements: 1.4 million at the federal level and 1.3 million at the state level.

• Since enterprise bargaining began in 1991 average annual productivity has averaged 2.1% a year (GDP per hours worked).

• Between 1972 and 1996 trade union training enjoyed bipartisan political support and through the Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA) provided outcome-focused training to more than 400,000 Australian unionists.

• At the time of its abolition TUTA received annual federal government funding of $10 million a year.

• An ACTU survey reveals that in 63% of unions less than half of all workplace union delegates have received formal training in the past three years.

• There are over 1.9 million union members located in thousands of workplaces right around Australia.

• There are approximately 28,000 union delegates and representatives in workplaces across Australia.

• Vocational education and training participation 1997 -2000:^[1]

- the percentage of Australia’s working age population which participated in VET increased from 11.6% in 1997 to 13.2% in 2000,

- the number of students who participated in VET increased from 1.4 million in 1997 to 1.7 million in 2000, and

• In June 200 female participation in ‘new apprenticeships’ was 31% (below the level of female participation in the workforce)

• 97,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in Australia since the end of 1995.

• In the past five years high value manufacturing exports have grown by 7.4% per annum – in the preceding five years they grew by 17% per annum.

• In the past five years investment in manufacturing Research and Development has fallen by 10% in real terms. In the preceding five years R&D had increased by more than 100% in real terms.

• Australia invests 1.5% of GDP less than the OECD average in education and innovation or about $10 billion less a year.

• 122,100 Australian employees were made redundant from manufacturing jobs in the three years 1998 – 2001. This represents 20% of all redundancies over this period.^[2]

• In 1981 there were 21,000 people employed at the Port Kembla steel works, in 2001 there were less than 5,000.

• Polling of 1,200 Australian voters conducted on behalf of the AMWU across 18 marginal federal seats in July 2001 found:

- 80% of respondents believed that the Australian manufacturing industry is very important to the country’s future.

- 98% believed that the Australian Government should do more to support innovation and growth in Australian manufacturing.

- 91% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that the Australian Government should implement policies that protect the Australian manufacturing industry from unfair competition.

- 90% believed that the Australian Government should do more to protect Australian jobs from competition from countries where employees earn very low wages.

- 65% of respondents believe that their jobs had become less secure or much less secure in recent years.

- 53% of respondents believed jobs would become even less secure in the next few years, with only 12% believing that jobs would become more secure.

• For all occupations other than managers and professionals, the net increase in jobs during the 1990s consisted entirely of part-time and casual jobs. Middle income jobs declined. (Borland, Gregory and Sheehan 2001).

• 87% of the net jobs created during the 90s paid less than $26,000 per year. An incredible 48% of net new jobs paid less than $15,600 per year.

• Since the Howard Government came to office in 1996:

- more than 100,000 federal public sector jobs have disappeared

- $60 billion worth of public assets have been sold

Policy Responses

Union Education - a government committed to a fair industrial system should ensure adequate public funding of union education

Workplace Learning Representatives - union networks provide an important shop-floor resource in promoting employee participation in VET

Vocational Education And Training - there are a number of areas that require reform if the vocational education system is to effectively support a modern workforce

Industry Policy - jobs and industries need active support from the government.

Structural Adjustment - proper support programs are needed to assist employees affected by change access training opportunities and new employment.

Public Sector - to properly serve the community the public sector must be well funded, apolitical, professional and responsive

^[1] National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2000

^[2] ABS Retrenchment and Redundancy Cat 6266.0 May 2001