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I'm No Economist, But ….
I'm no economist, but there a few things about the national economic debate right now that I don't quite get.
Interview: Rock Solid
Bill Shorten gives the inside story on the Australian Workers Union's involvement in the Beaconsfield rescue.
Industrial: Eight Simple Rules for Employing My Teenage Daughter
Phil Oswald bought up his kids to believe in their rights; so when his 16-year old daughter was told to cop a pay cut she was never going to take it quietly.
Politics: The Johnnie Code
WorkChoices is encrypted deep in the PM's political DNA, writes Evan Jones
Energy: Fission Fantasies
Adam Ma’anit looks at the big business push behind the 'clean nuclear' debate that is sweeping the globe.
History: All The Way With Clarrie O'Shea
The WorkChoices Penal Powers are the latest in a long line of penal sanctions against trade unions, writes Neale Towart
International: Closer to Home
If Australia can forgive its debt to Iraq, why not to Indonesia and the Philippines, write Luke Fletcher and Karen Iles
Economics: Taking the Fizz
While the Treasurer has been popping the post-Budget champers, Frank Stilwell gives a more sober assessment.
Unions: Stronger Together
Amanada Tattersall looks at the possibilities of strengthening alliances between unions, environmental and community organisations
Review: Montezuma's Revenge
Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in a film about racism and retribution, writes James Gallaway.
Poetry: Fair Go Gone
Employers in the land rejoice, for we are girt by greed.
 Grandmother Fights Fabrication Company
Bog Standards, Hanssen Exposed
Foxtel Channels Contracts
Telstra Dials Up A Shocker
Viva La Resolution
Smirk Boss Loses Control
Iemma Told To Change At Central
On The Tiles
APHEDA Offices Attacked
Vanstone Sits On Wages
PM Slap for Battered Women
"Spineless" Andrews Apologises
Howard Lags “Best Practice”
Harper's Bizarre Theories
Process Abused - Call Peter McIlwain
Activists What's On!
The Soapbox
The Beaconsfield Declaration
As the Prime Minister feted Brant Webb and Todd Russell, their colleagues were outside with a message to the rest of Australia. The Locker Room
Run Like You Stole Something
Phil Doyle observes that there are some tough bastards out there. Parliament
The Westie Wing
That fun-loving friend of the workers, Ian West, reports from the red leather of the Bear Pit. Education
Class Action
Phil Bradley draws the lines between education funding and the current skills crisis.
Her Honour Judge Judith Scheindler
Greens Are Good For You
Calling All Micks!
Coming Up Swinging
Belly's Bit
Mining For Gold
Blood Spangled Banner
Never To Be Repeated Offer
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News
Harper's Bizarre Theories
Minimum wage Australians would be earning more than $14 an hour, instead of $12.75, if the safety net had kept pace with inflation, the government's “Fair Pay Commission” has learned.
The figures were contained in a Queensland Council of Unions submission presented to Professor Ian Harper's new low-wage body, in Brisbane.
The analysis showed that if minimum pay rates had simply kept up with inflation, over the past decade, people on the minimum would be about $1.50 an hour better off.
ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, said the changed arrangements meant more than 1.6 million low paid Australians were suffering an effective wage freeze.
June 7 marked 12 months since the last AIRC annual adjustment and Harper's body shows no sign of boosting rates any time soon.
"While prices continue to go up, the real value of wages for low paid people is going down," Combet said.
"If the Howard Government had not abolished the AIRC's role in setting minimum wages, award workers could now be getting around $20 a week extra to help with the cost of living."
Harper was hand-picked to head the new body by Prime Minister, John Howard, after establishing his credentials as a right-wing economist.
Prior to his appointment he had attacked the concept of "fairness" in minimum wage considerations and argued that America was better off than Australia, economically, because it hadn't tried to suppress sweat shops.
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Issue 310 contents
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