
Issue No 53		12 May 2000

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News

Costello Backs National GST Pay Claim

Treasurer Peter Costello's post-Budget comments that upcoming tax cuts are not compensation for the GST will be used to support pay claims for workers, ACTU secretary Greg Combet said today.

Speaking ahead of next week's ACTU Executive meeting in Melbourne, Combet told Workers Online the Treasurer's admission would become important evidence in the next Living Wage case and in specific enterprise negotiations before then.

"The Treasurer's comments will be relied on from this day on - especially in Living Wage proceedings," he says.

Combet says the ACTU and individual unions will be closely monitoring the Consumer Price Index over the coming months and seeking compensation for GST price rises in their pay claims.

Unions will also seek to insert clauses in collective agreements to allow wage levels to be reviewed in the light of any such rises.

"The ACTU does not want to see inflation go up or interest rates go up but these things are happening because of government policy, not because of wages growth," Combet says.

"The government can not blame unions for problems of the government's own creation," he says. "We have every right, indeed a responsibility, to ensure that the real value of workers' wages are maintained."

The Costello admission came at a post-Budget briefing where he conceded the tax cuts were due, with or without the GST, to address bracket creep. Those comments have undermined the Prime Minister's consistent argument that the July tax cuts were to compensate people for the GST's impact on prices.

Combet says that the government has now accepted the ACTU's two central arguments: that the GST 's impact on prices would be higher than government estimates (this is now conceded) and that the income tax were due anyway.

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  Issue 53 contents

Interview: The Fruitful Shaw
After ten years in Parliament, NSW Industrial Relations Minister Jeff Shaw looks at some mountains still to be climbed.

Politics: Budget in Reply
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley replies to the Federal budget and paints Labor's alternative vision for the future.

Economics: Petition to Move a Mountain
A child born in Zambia or Tanzania or Bolivia owes more to international creditors than she or he will ever earn in a lifetime.

International: Solidarity in a Cold Climate
After an overnight bargaining marathon, Norway's unions have secured most of their main demands and have now ended their nationwide strike.

Health: Workers Health Centre Comes of Age
In 2001, the Workers Health Centre will celebrate its 25th anniversary, making it the longest running independent trade union based health and safety service in the country.

History: A Tribute to the Fallen
A Canadian tractor operator is seeking help to produce a book on monuments to people killed in the workplace.

Satire: Ralph Web Ring Busted
Following the dismissal of 27 Telstra employees last week for downloading hardcore pornography on their work computers, Ralph magazine sacked five employees yesterday for downloading positive images of women.

Review: Waterfront - Through the Reporters' Eyes
Fairfax journalists Helen Trinca and Anne Davies have skillfully transformed the waterfront war into the sort of thriller that any self-respecting Hollywood mogul would reject for being too wild to be true.

» Costello Backs National GST Pay Claim

» Conference Call: Support the NSW Way

» Games Rail Service in Limbo

» Shaw Moves on Email Protection

» Salami Reform: Reith Chops Up the Nasties

» Advocate in Trouble Over Rural Sackings

» Unionists take to Streets for May Day 2000

» Shareholders Rattle Rinto Tinto Cage

» Joy Dispute Widens With Midnight Run

» Employers Fail to Defy History

» Indonesian Labor Educator Reports to Local Unions

» Big Drum-Up This Wednesday