1 July 2014
ON his final day as national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Australia’s resource industry employer group AREEA recognises the contribution Paul Howes has made to our nation’s industrial relations landscape.
Mr Howes has proven to be a passionate advocate for advancing the employment prospects and living standards of the many Australian workers his union represents.
AREEA and the AWU have a strong history of working together on many positive industrial relations developments.
In his time as national secretary, Mr Howes has worked with AREEA and other social partners to progress many new resource industry projects, particularly in the hard rock mining, metal smelting and oil and gas sectors AREEA represents.
At times, our organisations have had some very public disagreements on key policy issues. Such robust policy debates always occur within the prism of representing our members’ best interests in a respectful and objective manner.
Mr Howes should also be commended from both sides of Australian politics for this year showing the leadership to question whether excessive wages inflation in some areas of the resource industry is conducive to securing future investment and employment opportunities.
He joins other highly regarded members of the Labor movement, such as Martin Ferguson and Gary Gray, as important thought leaders on the future role industrial relations should play in supporting the ongoing prosperity of Australia’s resource sector.
We urge other senior members of the trade union and Labor movement to take a similarly constructive approach when the Productivity Commission review of our industrial relations system commences in due time.
This will be especially important as we collectively focus on areas of common ground that can bring about bipartisan reform and provide long-overdue stability in IR reform in Australia.
We wish Paul Howes all the best in his next career move and look forward to continuing a productive relationship with the AWU.
Steve Knott
AREEA Chief Executive
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