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Issue No. 133 | 26 April 2002 |
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The Struggle Continues
Interview: If The Commission Pleases History: Protest and Celebrate Unions: A Novel Approach Industrial: Hare Tony, Hare Tony International: Never Forget Jenin Politics: Left Right Out In France Health: Delivering A Public Health Revolution Review: The Secret Life of U(nion)s Poetry: May Day, May Day
The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Week in Review
 French ConnectionGold Star StudentTime for a General Strike?
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Tool Shed The Man Without a Heart
******************** When workers employed at the cutting edge of the welfare sector won a 12 per cent pay rise last year, they hoped that at last they would be recognized for their often thank-less work. Instead the wage rise has plunged the sector into crisis, with 3000 agencies facing closure - all because the Treasurer refuses to come to the party. Some services are looking at closing doors in May if the Treasurer doesn't announce funding in the upcoming Federal Budget. The 6.5 per cent average rise lifted pay rates from what was an Award range of between $21 000 and $39 000, with most earning less than $30 000. But the modest pay rise under the SACS Social & Community Services Award was only the beginning of their battle for wage justice. That's because the organisations that employ the SACS workers are themselves reliant on state and federal government funding. Despite spending most of his life doing a pretty convincing impression of Ebaneazor Scrouge, NSW Treasurer Michael Egan came to the party, approving a supplement to the organizations funded by the state government to the tune of $40 million. But Costello held out, meaning that community service workers employed in youth refuges, women's refuges, migrant services and disability services were faced with the reality that any wage rise would further cut critically low resources, and with it jobs and services. When pressed on the issue, Costello put his name to a letter opining that Canberra "does not need to provide additional funding" as Commonwealth grants to the State Government or direct to service agencies already were indexed annually to cover items such as wage rises, and "additional funding would effectively provide double compensation to organisations and governments". The problem with this argument is that the money he talks of only covers the incremental Living Wage increases designed to maintain the real wages of low income employees, not a significant restructuring of wages such as this. It is the non-profit community agencies that are going to be forced to double-dip - and it will be the public who will pay in lost services. Of course, the reality is that Costello is tightening the screws everywhere to free up more money for the defence department, budgetary beneficiaries of the unstable international environment and the cynical internal scare mongering of the last election. Defence will spend $23 billion over the next 10 years. And while Costello promised there would be no extra funding for the War on Terror, he has since requestioned a further $340 million for Afghanistan. Meanwhile the government continues to throw around the bucks to keep asylum seekers in third world nations with an estimated $200 million going into border protection and discredited Pacific Solution. All of which provides an interesting twist to Howard's xenophobia. If you are an alien we will spend billions keeping you out of our country, blowing you up and maybe even throwing some money at you to get you back to whatever hole you crawled out of. But if you are an Australia, we will cut and cut at community services and make your difficult life even more isolated. Anyone who thinks that border protection is about helping Australians, should have a look at the budget bottom line.
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