The Government's release of fact sheets on their new industrial relations proposals reveals the deception at the heart of their ‘Forward with Fairness' policy, say the Australian Greens.

"This Government is not ripping up Work Choices but merely papering over some of the more extreme elements while keeping the basic architecture," said Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on industrial relations.

"This is a lost opportunity for an ALP government to cement in place a truly progressive workplace relations system - building on Australia's proud history of workplace standards, rather than continuing with the philosophy of the Howard years."

"It is not adequate for this Government to pretend it is introducing 'fairness' merely because their proposals are marginally better than Work Choices," she said.

"The Government is creating two classes of workers, with no justification for treating workers differently because of who they work for. It is unacceptable that some employees can be sacked with one verbal warning, have limited rights to challenge their dismissal and have no entitlement to redundancy pay."

The Australian Greens hold deep concerns over a number of matters including:
• The reduced ability of the safety net to respond adequately to changing community standards;
• Breaches to freedom of association rights by retaining Work Choice restrictions on industrial action and right of entry;
• The extent of Fair Work Australia's powers to resolve disputes, including by arbitration;
• Limits to the scope of bargaining for enforceable agreements.

"The Australian Greens will subject this legislation to close scrutiny in the Senate, ensuring it complies with international obligations and protects the rights and responsibilities that provide dignity and a decent standard of living to all Australian workers," she concluded.

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