NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, has criticised the Commonwealth's Independent Contractors Bill at a federal senate inquiry in Canberra. Mr Della Bosca said the Independent Contractors Bill was a further attempt by the Howard Government to remove legitimate employment protections by over-riding State laws.

"Like Work Choices, the Bill tilts the employment balance too far towards the employer, encouraging sham contract arrangements that remove basic entitlements," the Minister said. "In the name of 'freeing' contract employees from the 'burden' of an award safety net, families can lose basic conditions and protections."

Employers who make staff 'independent contractors' no longer have to provide:

• · minimum rates of pay
  · annual leave
  · long service leave
  · superannuation
  · workers compensation
  · sick leave, and
  · public holidays.

"Contracting is a completely legitimate way to do business and earn a living, but it must not be used to undermine job security and transfer risk to the worker," Mr Della Bosca said.

For John Della Bosca's comments in full, follow the link here to LaborNET 

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Get Somebody Now has aleady pointed to the controversy surrounding the Independent Contractors Bill that is currently before the Australian Federal Parliament. To encourage informed debate on this issue, we publish here the main purposes of the Bill, as intended by its initiators. Future articles on GSN will examine responses to the legislation from IT contractors and other industry players.

The main intentions behind the  Bill are to offer -

• Protections from sham contractors
• Protections for owner-drivers in NSW and Victoria
• Protections for textile, clothing and footwear outworkers
• Regulation of unfair contracts
• Protections under WorkChoices

For Minister Kevin Andrew's media release on the bill, follow the link here

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The Independent Contractors Bill was introduced into the Federal Australian parliament last month amid controversy over its proposals. The law will outlaw collective bargaining on the part of IT contractors, who will be classed as independent businesses and governed by the same rules that cover general client/contractor relationships outside the technology sector.

The bill is designed to promote flexibility within the industry, and encourage independent contracting as a response to the chronic skill shortages that affect parts of it. However, it is not clear as to whether this flexibility will benefit or harm existing contractors.

The ITCRA in general supports the legislation, unions are strongly opposed, and cite the case of FOXTEL technicians who were able to bargain collectively to their advantage although being classed as contractors rather than employees. Such action will not be allowed in future.

A good summary of the debate can be found in The Australian of July 11th 2006

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