Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the workers at Pacific National Coal who are currently locked in a protracted industrial dispute with their employer over a new enterprise bargaining agreement. The workers represented by their union, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, have been negotiating with PN Coal for over 12 months. On 23 January, the company walked out of negotiations despite the RTBU seeking to extend discussions by a further 48 hours in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

Workers at PN Coal deserve a fair and reasonable pay rise that will bring them in line with other companies in the industry, and I give my support to these workers and stand with them in solidarity in whatever course of action they choose to take. In what is a bullying tactic by the company, pay rises have been offered to individual rail workers who do not take part in legal strike action. I understand the RTBU is taking this to the Federal Court as a breach of the Fair Work Act, and I support them in this action.

I wish to recognise the work of RTBU National Secretary Bob Nanva, Assistant Secretary National and New South Wales RTBU State Secretary Allan Barden, and NSW Locomotive Divisional Secretary Bob Haydon. Most importantly, I recognise the hundreds of workers at PN Coal who deserve a fair go, not the bullying and intimidation they have received at the hands of their employer for over 12 months.

There are important lessons we can learn from this dispute. The tactics used by PN Coal are simply a curtain raiser for Tony Abbott's Australia. Let there be no doubt that, if he wins the next election, he will bring back the worst aspects of Work Choices. Those opposite want nothing more than to bring back individual agreements and make it harder for workers to bargain collectively. In Tony Abbott's Australia, the only thing that is dead, buried and cremated about Work Choices is its name. (Time expired)