Queensland workers freedom of choice has been unfairly diminished under Labor’sIndustrial Relations Restoring Fairness and Other Legislation Amendment Bill introduced into Parliament tonight

Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Ian Walker, said the Bill restores fairness to no one other than the Palasczcuk-Gordon Government’s union mates.

“This is a win for nobody other than the Union bosses,” Mr Walker said.

“Not only has it been rushed through Parliament to repay favours, it does so at the expense of the privacy of workers.

“We moved in Parliament to ensure new workers employed in the public sector in Queensland could ‘opt-in’ to an arrangement whereby their personal information is given to the relevant public sector union – but Labor said no.

“Instead senior public servants are being asked to “actively cooperate” in union activity with no regard to those workers who just want to get on with their job.

“This has been described as a true Labor Bill but it is nothing more than a real recruitment drive to increase union membership and bolster union coffers.

Mr Walker said Labor professes to stand up for worker’s safety but what they want is to give union bosses unfettered access to work places in an attempt to coerce new workers to join a union.

“So it was good enough to have 24 hours right of entry notification in Julia Gillard’s Fair Work Act – but the same can’t be said for public sector union bosses in Queensland,” Mr Walker said.

“The LNP has always been interested in the welfare of workers and acknowledges unions have a purpose in the workplace where their priority is improving worker’s conditions, but unfortunately because so many Labor MP’s are reliant on financial support during election campaigns, this Bill is nothing more than an act of pure self-interest.

“Once again Labor puts the interests of its union backers ahead of the privacy and choice for all Queensland workers.

“Labor promised to govern for all of Queensland but it hasn’t taken long for them to identify who they really represent.