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  Issue No 40 Official Organ of LaborNet 19 November 1999  

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Labour Review

What's New at the Information Centre

By Neal Towart

View the latest issue of Labour review, our resource for officials and students.

Inequality and Unemployment in Europe: the American Cure by James K. Galbraith, Pedro Concei��o & Pedro Ferreira

The European social market is often depicted as a humane alternative to the terminal welfare policies of the USA. This article argues that the rhetoric of US capital in this field, as with its free market rhetoric, is intended for external consumption, and is not a clear picture of US inequality. The authors don't argue that the US model is superior to Germany or Scandinavia, but that if Europe is taken as a single economy (the aim of the European Union) then US welfare and distribution of income stands up pretty well in contrast to Spain, Italy, Greece. The role of the state is seen to be crucial in this, with the record growth in the US economy in recent years having a more positive impact on reduction in inequality than it might appear. The authors however, don't extend the logic of their argument to include Canada and Mexico, as that single market surely should be the comparison with the EU. I'm sure the people of Chiapas would have a few dissenting thoughts about the benefits of the US model.

That said, the force of the argument backs that of Krueger and Card on the minimum wage. That is a higher minimum wage reduces unemployment: "inequality in wage structures and unemployment are related: when one goes up, so does the other". The authors argue that a true European welfare state requires an earned income tax credit scheme, as a means of topping up low wages. Wage inequality is greater in the US than in some European countries, but in comparison with an integrated Europe, they are more equal.

Countries in Europe with the most generous social welfare policies have the lowest unemployment. The Right claim that generous welfare systems create disincentives to work. The facts show this to be incorrect. High wage countries are those with generous welfare systems and a diversity of employment types, ranging from highly skilled work to low productivity jobs. The employment structure is more complex than in low wage countries. These factors operate because of the wealth transfer systems which subsidize the incomes of the lower paid by providing a strong public sector, "free" health care and a sound education system. This needs to be extended across Europe.

The authors argue that the US achievement in the 1990s could be a model for a Europe wide attack on inequality. It seems to me that the better approach would be to extend the examples of Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Finland across the EU. They would argue that nationalistic concerns prevent this happening but don't acknowledge the extent to which massive subsidies already flow across borders in the EU. These flows are driven by concerns other than those of redistribution of wealth, but can have that effect. The mechanism is in place; the political will to address European wide inequality is not.

The will to address worldwide inequality (is that Africa on the map just south of the Mediterranean?) is further away, and articles like this lauding the US wealth creation achievement without acknowledging the massive subsidy of the first world by the third further distract attention from the problem.

(New Left Review; no. 237, September/October 1999)

Workplace Equity & Discrimination in the New Millenium Edited by Don McKenzie

The National Key Centre in Industrial Relations (NKCIR) has collected the papers from this conference held in June 1999. The three major questions addressed by the speakers were:

- What have we learnt from the experience of state and federal anti-discrimination laws?

- What are the issues concerning equity and discrimination that workplaces will face in the new millenium?

- What practical steps are available to organisations to deal with issues of equity and discrimination

(NKCIR monograph no. 13, 1999)

Rio Tinto - a Radical Decision? by Jeff Shaw, QC, MLC

The AIRC took a risky venture into literary illusion recently when it applied the nineteenth century proverb "all is fair in love and war" to the industrial warfare that it perceived in the background events to the Rio Tinto case.

The CFMEU made its way through the labyrinthine obstacles to arbitration created by the Workplace Relations Act (in contrast to the appearance given by the government and the media that the union was creating obstacles). The full bench took the decision to arbitrate but then chose to do so in a minimalist manner, without scrutinising the various claims of the parties in any detail. This minimalist approach was not a requirement of the legislation, in fact the AIRC was bound to consider "the merits of the case". By choosing to take a global approach and declaring that unilateral changes were necessary because the unions "chose to engage in warfare" and the company was entitled to fight back, they may have altered the perceptions in industrial relations that agitation to gain a third party hearing no longer has utility. They seem to have declared that there are no standards of fair play. Despite the allusion to war in their quotation, wars do in fact have rules and conventions, whilst the AIRC seems in danger of abandoning them.

(Australian Industrial Law Update; newsletter 10, 29 October 1999)

Freedom of Association: Penalty for Anti-Unionism

The Federal Court has fined a manufacturing company whose managing director made anti-union speeches to its workers and threatened to dismiss toolmakers if they joined a union. The AMWU alleged that DMG Industries breached Part XA of the Workplace relations Act. The company conceded it had breached s298K of the Act and agrred to reimburse the union for its costs and agreed to provide written undertakings against such action in the future.

AFMEPKIU V DMG Industries Pty Ltd, Fed Ct (Marshall J), 2 June 1999, (1999) 46 AILR 4-095. (Australian Industrial Law Update; newsletter 10, 29 October 1999)

The Cost to Australia of Early School-Leaving by Anthony King

Australia still has relatively low levels of secondary school completion. The estimated lifetime cost (discounted to 1999 terms) to the country is $74,000.00 for each early leaver (numbers estimated at 35,000 per year).

(The Cost to Australia of Early School-Leaving. Report commissioned by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum; prepared by Anthony King, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM), University of Canberra, 1999)

Why Australia Needs a National Youth Commitment by John Spierings

In 1998 there were 114,000 Australian teenagers not in education or training, who were either unemployed or not in the labour force. 80,000 of these young people were early school leavers. Many other young people were scraping along in precarious employment. Policy needs to focus on encouraging them to stay at school, and to support them in the world outside if they chose to leave school.

Early school leavers should be entitled to access to a minimum level of post-compulsory education and training which could be put together from schools, TAFES and other providers of accreditted training.

(Why Australia Needs a National Youth Commitment: A Discussion Paper by John Spierings. Ultimo: Dusseldorp Skills Forum 1999)


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*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 40 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: No Quick Fix
Online pioneer Marc Belanger explains why the Internet, on its own, will not save the union movement.
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*  Unions: Organising With A Mission
Entries are beginning to trickle in for the Labor Council Organiser of the Year. With just two weeks to deadline, we look at the TWU's nominee.
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*  History: Rhyme and Reason
Poems written by workers provide us with an insight into their experiences and also how they felt about their work and working conditions.
*
*  Health: The Food Police
Three times a day you take your life in your hands. How? When you sit down to eat a meal.
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*  Politics: East Timor: Defeat or Victory for the Left?
John Passant's "Requiem for the Left" advances some rather extravagant charges regarding the left and East Timor.
*
*  International: Kiwi Unions Rebuild from Ground Up
After fifteen years as a right wing laboratory New Zealand is about to change tack. New NZCTU chief Paul Goulter outlines the challenge ahead.
*
*  Satire: Australian Democrats Revealed as Student Hoax
The Chaser has obtained an exclusive background report on the extraordinary story which reveals how and why Cheryl Kernot defected from the Democrats.
*
*  Review: The Best of the Best
Once again Channel Nine has out done itself with it�s new Ray Martin program �Simply the Best�.
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*  Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
View the latest issue of Labour review, our resource for officials and students.
*
*  Deface a Face: 25,000 Teachers Can�t Be Wrong!
Angry teachers yesterday voted overwhelmingly for Education minister John Aquilina to take the mantle of this week�s face to deface.
*

News
»  Contracts Fear as Teachers Sidelined
*
»  Reith Calls on States to Split Entitlement Costs
*
»  Burrow's Plea: Net-Heads Must Take Leadership Role
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»  Ozemail Downloading Leave Entitlements
*
»  Geeks Claim 400 Per Cent for Millennium Bug Patrol
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»  Hospital Crisis Looms as Nurses Set Deadline
*
»  Pre-Fab Shelter Wins UN Support in East Timor
*
»  Rail Authorities Back Down on Surveillance.
*
»  Rio Tinto Black List Exposed at Blair Athol
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»  Needle Stick Fears Spark Industrial Action
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»  Round One to the Cleaners
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»  Telstra's Greed Puts Service at Risk
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»  Tragic Death Leads to Lift in Contractor Safety Standards
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»  Oldfield in the Pub
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Columns
»  Guest Report
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Piers Watch
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Letters to the editor
»  Letter of the Week
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»  Republican Post Mortem
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»  Aquilina's Horror Award
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»  CCT - Destroying Rural Communities
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»  Timor Pride Not Cause for Requiem
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