
Issue No 3		05 March 1999

News

Living Wage - Round One To Unions

By Peter Lewis

The ACTU has claimed an important victory even before the latest Living Wage case has been handed down. Employers and the government have embraced the language of needs-based wage levels.

ACTU assistant secretary Greg Combet told Workers Online that a striking aspect of this week's hearings in the AIRC in Melbourne has been that all parties are now using the language of the 'Living Wage' in arguing their cases.

"This is the third time we have run a case under the banner of the Living Wage.

"In a little over two and we have at lest been able to penetrate the employers' and government's philosophy to the extent that they talk about the Living Wage rather than National Wage Case," Combet said.

"I think this shows we've been quite successful in changing the basis on which the Commission reviews safety net wage increases."

Under the weight of witness testimony on the human impact of low wage levels, there has been a shift in emphasis from raw economic statistics to the social impact of minimum wage rates.

Again, this week the ACTU have called a series of low income workers to tell their stories in support of the claim for a minimum wage of $400 per week.

"In the public debate at the moment, Howard, Reith and the Business Council are all talking about the fact you've got to freeze minimum wages or cut them to boost employment," Combet said.

"What we're trying to say is: let's look at the human dimension of this -- it's not market economics, it's real people and on $320 a week take-home pay for full-time work, you simply can't pay the bills and put the food on the table.

"We're trying to give the case a human dimension and ensure that when the Commission looks at the safety net at award minimum wages it actually takes account of the social issues.

"It can't just be some dry. sterile market-based debate."

The hearing continues next week.

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 3 contents

Interview: How Organising Works
The ACTU�s Sarah Kaine is part of a new breed of union organiser who help workers stand up for themselves.

Unions: Big Boys Bank on Mergers
Mergers of the big banks are back on the agenda, and the Finance Sector Union is leading the community campaign against them.

History: Commemorating Our Dear Departed Equal Pay Activists
Two women who deserve special recognition and commemoration as part of our Women's Day celebrations are Eileen Powell and Edna Ryan, both of who played a crucial role in the struggle for equal pay.

Legal: New Judge Announces Zero Tolerance Of Pay Inequity In NSW
The NSW Industrial Relations Commission is training its sights on industrial raw-deals for women, and targeting the traditional under-valuation of women's work.

Review: Keep the Australia in Australian Television.
Local content quotas for Australian television are under threat from our Kiwi cousins.

Campaign Diary: Radical Conservatives Raise Their Own Bar
This Monday writs are issued for the state election, The phoney campaign ends and the real one begins; and the issue of stability, the need for it and the lack of it, is set to dominate the next four weeks.

» Unions Win Virtual Access To The Workplace

» Shaw To Snip At Gender Pay Gaps

» Living Wage - Round One To Unions

» Workers Fight Hotel Chain's Contracts Push

» No Picnic, No Pay

» The Modern Day Tales Of Robin Hood

» Nothing Casual About Woolies Drivers

» Unionists Flex Muscles for a Gay Time