Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to bring to the attention of the House a very public dispute that is currently unfolding in my electorate. It involves one of South Australia’s iconic businesses, a group of 16 suspended service technicians and the federal government’s extreme industrial relations laws. At the heart of the dispute is the Radio Rentals store at Prospect. Radio Rentals is a household name in my home state. The company has a long history of employing and trading in the state and has justly earned its reputation as a reliable electrical retailer.

Yet in the past few months events have unfolded at Radio Rentals in Prospect that have seen some customers pledging to boycott the company, three long-serving workers made redundant, 16 staff being locked out, without pay, for a month and the company having to employ a high-profile public relations firm to counter all of the negative press that has occurred. The conflict centres on the conditions of employment of the Prospect store’s service technicians, whose collective contract was terminated by Radio Rentals earlier this year under the Work Choices legislation.

The proposed replacement collective agreement was deemed inadequate by the employees and, following the termination of agreement, three long-serving technicians—with 30, 26 and 17 years service with the company—were made redundant. Unfortunately for them, the terminated agreement had included more generous redundancy payments, which had been negotiated through collective bargaining, rather than higher rates of pay. As a result of being made redundant, following the termination of the agreement, one of these technicians lost $86,000 in redundancy pay. The remaining staff members, none of whom has received a pay increase since 2003, were offered AWAs. These were not offered by Radio Rentals but by the entity known as Walker Stores Pty Ltd. The AWAs offered a pay increase of only one per cent, and 2.5 per cent conditional on what have been described as impossible production targets.

Radio Rentals unilaterally denied the employees a right to choose collective bargaining and pursue a fair collective agreement, even though the majority of the affected employees wanted to do just that. With negotiations stalled, over half of the affected technicians determined to apply for protected industrial action in what is the first instance of industrial action in South Australia under the federal government’s new Work Choices legislation. They did everything by the book—applying to the Industrial Relations Commission for a secret ballot, balloting affected members, notifying Radio Rentals management three days in advance of the industrial action and then taking only four hours in a protected action last Thursday afternoon.

However, in response, in an overly heavy-handed manner, Radio Rentals management determined to lock these workers out, without pay, for a month. They changed the locks and ensured that these workers were denied access when they returned to work. In a manner which I personally think is a disgraceful way to treat any workers, the company’s management issued a media release in which, instead of noting the many years of loyal service that these employees had put in, they referred to them as ‘traditionally militant employees’. They then took out a full-page ad in the Advertiser, which stated that these workers undertook ‘work performance that is well below that of the industry’.

Is this an example of the balance in the relationship between employer and employee that the Prime Minister is so keen to promote? The tragedy here is that this need not be happening. Make no mistake: it is the Howard government that has brought us here. The way that these Radio Rentals technicians are being treated is disgusting. But what is more disgusting is that not only does the Howard government allow this treatment to take place but its laws encourage it. I would ask the government just where is the choice that it likes to talk so much about for these workers. The only choice for these workers is to take the AWA or be locked out of their workplace, without pay, for a month. In a disturbing update, which I heard today, Radio Rentals went to the Industrial Relations Commission today to try to cancel a show of community support for these workers, which is being held tomorrow.

Let us be clear about Labor’s position on this. Under a Labor government, when a majority of workers want a collective agreement, it is a collective agreement that they will get. When a strong, independent umpire is required to step in, we will ensure that there is one to do just that. I put on record my support for the workers at Radio Rentals—indeed, for all workers in my community—who want nothing more than the choice of a fair collective agreement. I will be there to support them tomorrow and I will continue to fight for them, just as I will continue to fight for all the Aussie workers who are suffering from this government’s extreme attacks upon them—until we can stand in this place and tear up this legislation. (Time expired)