A New Deal for income protection?

nospam@example.com (Anthony O'Donnell) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:42:17 +1000

Last Tuesday ACTU President Sharan Burrow used the council's congress to declare that transforming social protection and social insurance is now 'at the top of the union agenda'.

Many will see this as a fresh departure for the trade union movement. Unions have been traditionally concerned with fair wages and conditions for those in work, rather than alleviating the hardship of those who find themselves without work.

That isn't the whole story, of course. The 'accord' that the ACTU brokered with the federal Labor government in the 1980s saw wages growth traded off for significant social policy advances: the introduction of Medicare, a revamped family allowance system (the context for Hawke's infamous 'No child will live in poverty' pledge) and the bedding down of compulsory superannuation.

Nevertheless, Australia differs from many European countries where trade unions, along with employers, play a substantial role in the governance and administration of social insurance schemes and employment services.

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Anthony O'Donnell - La Trobe Law Forum

A New Deal for income protection?