FSU members who participated in the Your Rights At Work campaign can rightly feel proud and satisfied today, as the Federal Government’s transitional IR bill has completed it’s first passage through the House of Representatives and the Senate.

It’s an important step toward restoring industrial and bargaining rights in Australian workplaces, and reflects the will of the electorate in the November federal election by abolishing AWAs, and WorkChoices.

Throughout the term of the previous government, the FSU consistently advocated for collective bargaining and the protection of rights in finance and insurance sector workplaces.

There have been members who tell us they’re happy with their individual arrangements, and the passage of the transitional IR bill does not affect those arrangements in the short term.

Individual arrangements entered into under the provisions of the forthcoming transitional IR legislation, will be underpinned by better safety net provisions.

With AWAs officially dead now, the second phase of the federal government’s IR changes, scheduled to occur by the end of 2010, is intended to restore collective bargaining rights.

Local and international research demonstrates time and time again that the best outcomes for workers are achieved when negotiated collectively, and applied collectively, and this is the approach FSU takes.

If we’re to build a better finance and insurance sector together, then we need to be protecting everyone’s interests.

It’s important to move quickly to restore collective bargaining in Australian workplaces, and FSU would like to see the federal government reconsider their proposed timetable and roll out the second phase sooner rather than later.