IGNORE THE scare-mongering by business and media over Labor's IR agenda. In practice, Labor's policy-"Forward with Fairness"-has been carefully crafted to give unions and workers the minimum to keep them onside, while preserving key gains by employers over two decades.From the beginning, the document makes it plain that Labor is building on the pro-market record of the Hawke and Keating Labor governments of 1983 to 1996.

It proudly lists the floating of the Australian dollar, the deregulation of the financial sector, the end of high tariff protection, a pro-market national competition policy and the introduction of enterprise bargaining, before arguing for a new phase of "economic reform".

Such reform, Labor says, should be based on the principle of driving productivity in the private sector.

On the other side of the ledger, "Forward with Fairness" promises unions and workers just enough to lock in support.

The details

Labor's policy includes some genuine gains for unions and workers in comparison to Howard's WorkChoices. These include:

� An end to Australian Workplace Agreements and statutory individual contracts.

� Ten legislated national employment standards.

� An additional 10 conditions relevant to particular industries.

� A new unfair dismissal system.

� The right to collective bargaining.

All workers will be entitled to a standard 38-hour week; up to a year's unpaid parental leave for both parents; flexible work arrangements for parents of pre-school children; four weeks annual leave; 10 days' carers leave; jury service or emergency service leave; public holidays; workplace information including information on the right to be in a union; redundancy pay; and long service leave.

Labor's policy "believes that unions play an important part in ensuring workplaces are fair" and states:

"Should employees elect, within Labor's industrial relations law, to exercise their rights to collectively bargain, take protected industrial action or rely on the benefits of a collective bargain, their choice is respected."

Although it's not spelled out, the policy appears to give union organisers renewed access to workplaces.

But Labor's compromises to business are also significant.

Many of the promised conditions are compromised, with employers having the right to refuse on "reasonable business grounds". Companies that can afford expensive lawyers will have a major advantage.

Award conditions can still be lost in collective bargaining, subjective to a "better off overall" provision.

The right to join a union is "balanced" by the right not to join, meaning unions will not be able to discipline scabs and freeloaders.

Unfair dismissal will be available only after a year in businesses with fewer than 15 workers, and after six months in larger companies.

Labor's acceptance of a national industrial relations system will give unions less room to duck and dive around legal restrictions.

And Fair Work Australia, which would replace the Industrial Relations Commission and Liberal watchdog bodies, will have an inspectorate "to monitor compliance" and effectively stand over workers taking action.

It will also have the power to end industrial action and impose a settlement.

Most importantly, Labor will enforce industrial peace. Its policy states: "Once an agreement is made then a deal is a deal. The agreement must be complied with and there can be no industrial action during its term."

So workers' hands will be tied for up to four years, leaving employers free to drive up productivity by changing work practices or cutting jobs.

As with WorkChoices, workers will be able to take protected industrial action (meaning they cannot be sued for damages by the employer) only during negotiations, and only after a mandatory secret ballot.

As the policy puts it, things will proceed "in accordance with Labor's clear, tough rules".

The biggest question mark remains what Labor will replace AWAs with. Rudd and Julia Gillard have signalled their intention to negotiate a compromise with the booming mining industry.

The mining bosses say any regression from Work Choices will damage "flexibility"-by which they mean it will interfere with their "right" to keep making massive profits.

By David Glanz