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  Issue No 88 Official Organ of LaborNet 16 March 2001  

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Unions

Poetic Justice


The ACTU kicked off its 2001 Living Wage campaign this week with a new shock tactic: poetry.

 
 

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The poem below was penned by Andrew Watson who is the ACTU's advocate in the Living Wage Case.

On the first day of the case in Melbourne on Tuseday, Watson handed copies of the poem to members of Australian Industrial Relations Commissions full bench who are hearing the case in anticipation of employer and federal government arguments against the $28 a week pay rise unions are seeking for low-paid workers.

"We'll All Be Rooned" said Hamilton (with apologies to John O'Brien)

"We'll all be rooned" said Hamilton

From ACCI

"The economic downturn's on

And interest rates are high".

The employers all stood around

As they had done for years

Talking growth prospects down

Overstating fears

"Things sure are tough" said AIG

"We need some wage restraint

For any low paid employee

Receiving award rate."

The Commonwealth said "that's not all

TRYM proves for sure and certain

Employment numbers will hit the wall

And life will surely worsen".

And when a modest pay rise came

Things didn't fall apart

So unions made another claim

And with his hand on heart.

"We'll all be rooned" said Hamilton

From ACCI

"The economic downturn's on

And interest rates are high".

**********

Following some appreciative and knowing smiles from the bench, Hamilition from the employers and representatives of the federal workplace minister Tony Abbott proceeded for the fourth year in a row to go into great detail about how a meaningful pay rise for low-paid workers was the one sure thing in the world that would guarantee economic 'roonation'.

Some commentators however are now predicting that the recent performance of the federal governments GST could terminally undermine the validity of Mr Abbott and Mr Hamilton's theory.

Also below is a complete transcript of Andrew's opening address to the case.

MR WATSON: If the Commission pleases. Australia stands at a fork in the road. For 100 years as a nation we have prided ourselves on an egalitarian ethic and on being the land of the fair go. Disturbing signs are emerging that this part of our national character is under threat. Earnings inequality has been increasing since 1975 but the pace of the inequality increase has picked up since 1996. Evidence is emerging of a growing problem of the working poor. As the Smith Family have said in the report that we include in our submissions, having a job no longer guarantees that you and your family won't be in poverty.

ABS statistics show 30,000 households where the primary source of income was wages couldn't afford to heat their home or went without a meal due to a shortage of money. So deeply has this trend affected the national psyche that in his address on the occasion of Australia's centenary the Governor General was moved to comment on the unacceptable gap between the haves and have nots in this land of the fair go. This Commission also stands at a fork in the road. For 97 of the nation's 100 years the Commission and its predecessors have played an absolutely critical role in ensuring fairness in the workplace.

This uniquely Australian institution has acted as a bulwark against inequality and exploitation for working people. Recent safety net adjustments have provided genuine assistance to the low paid but more needs to be done. Witness evidence and ABS data in this case show just how much a struggle life is for the low paid. At lower award classification rates making ends meet is a constant battle; a battle that some workers aren't winning. The ACTU claim, if granted, will continue the recent work of the Commission, delivering a genuine real increase to the low paid and maintaining the relevance of the award system.

Those opposite seek to undo the Commission's recent good work. They want to deliver a real wage cut for the low paid and they want to undermine the award safety net. They want, in short, to exacerbate the trend towards inequality. The Australian economy slowed in December. We only got the data last Wednesday but employers and Coalition Governments will use it as cover for their real wage cut stance. The December slowdown needs to be placed in context. Two primary contributing factors were the GST and its bring forward effect on construction and interest rate levels.

The GST effect should be transitional and interest rate levels have recently been reduced. When the Commission's decision in this case takes effect these factors will have largely washed through the system. The GST hit workers in the wallet once through higher prices. The Commission should not allow the GST induced slowdown to be used as cover for hitting workers in the wallet again. The low paid, economically amongst the most vulnerable in the community, should not bear the full brunt of the slowdown. There is an intense hypocrisy in the repeated calls of times of slowdown for the low paid to exercise wage restraint whilst others at the top end of the spectrum show none. The broad economic costs of the ACTU claim will be negligible.

The workers who benefit from the ACTUs claim only received 12.4 per cent of overall earnings. They constitute 21 per cent of the work force but their average ordinary time earnings are only 59 per cent of average ordinary over time earnings for the general community.

So the total cost of the ACTU claim is negligible. It is about two-thirds of a per cent of total labour costs. The benefit to individual low paid workers, however, from the claim will be significant. It will not solve their problems but it will make a genuine difference. And the money that these workers receive will be spent. Granting the ACTU claim will have a stimulatory effect on demand and help keep the economy afloat. Even in an environment of economic slow down, the Commission needs to continue to assert its role in providing genuine assistance to the low paid and maintaining a genuine award safety net.

Our costings show that it can do so without jeopardising economic performance. The Commission stands at a fork in the road. Its choice is not between a fair increase and economic responsibility.It can provide an economically responsible genuine increase to the low paid. The choice is between fairness and inequality. It is between an ACTU living wage and real wage cuts.


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*    Keep tabs on the Living Wage case

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 88 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Labor Law
Shadow Attorney General Robert McClelland outlines his plans for workers entitlements, legal aid and a Bill of Rights
*
*  Unions: Poetic Justice
The ACTU kicked off its 2001 Living Wage campaign this week with a new shock tactic: poetry.
*
*  Technology: Big Brother�s Legacy
Organisations with restrictive staff email polices risk locking themselves in the Industrial Age by treating their staff as units to be monitored.
*
*  Corporate: Scumbags Exposed
On the eve of the inaugural Corporate Scumbags Tour, we look at the worst of the worst from the Top End of Town.
*
*  International: Playing Away
Pat Ranald looks at a proposal to hold Australian companies to basic standards when they invest in developing countries.
*
*  Environment: Nuclear Titanics
The Maritime Union has joined Greenpeace in a campaign to stop our seas becoming a nuclear highway.
*
*  History: Out of the Bog
Neale Towart looks at the life of big Jim Larkin, one of the heroes of an Irish trade union movement that continues to thrive.
*
*  Politics: Westie�s Macquarie Street Alert
The Workers MLC, Ian West, provides the first in a series of regular rundowns on the upcoming Parliamentary session
*
*  Review: The Next American Century?
How will the United States maintain its global power in an era when the very notion of the nation-state is under challenge?
*
*  Satire: Dollar Crashes Through Psychological 0.00c Barrier
The bedevilled Australian dollar dropped below the crucial 0.00c barrier losing its battle to avoid the humiliation of being worth less than the commemorative Bradman coins distributed by the Sunday Telegraph last weekend.
*

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»  Activists Notebook
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  The Locker Room
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Blokey Culture
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»  Carr's Indulgence
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»  Postcard from Delhi
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