Tag Archive for 'Fair Work Australia'

Coalition shows it doesn’t care about equal pay for women

Published
by
Mark
1 week, 3 days ago
in Feminism, Industrial Relations, Policy, Politics and Women
. 71 Comments

Writing in Crikey the other day, Eloise Keating suggested that “if Abbott wants to woo women, he should start with wages”:

Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Australian women earned just 82.5% of the average male rate of pay across the country in 2009. On average, a female worker would have earned more in 1985 — and will be $1 million worse off over their lifetimes than their dads, brothers and partners.

That rather understates the size of the problem, because that differential refers to full time earnings, and 57% of women in work were full time, with 43% being part time or casual in 2009. As the recent House of Representatives Standing Committee Report on Equal Pay, Making It Fair, observed:

In August 2007, the average mean earning from all jobs for women was $680 per week (compared to $1022 for male employees) partly reflecting women’s greater participation in part time employment. On a comparison of full time employment earnings, women on average earned $910 per week and men earned $1131 weekly.

The point I’ve been making in my commentary and analysis of the Abbott parental leave plan is that there seems to be a perception that women in the workforce are much better off than they actually are. Otherwise it would be impossible to conclude that income replacement was ‘generous’ or ‘fair’. My argument has been that the Coalition’s approach would further entrench existing inequalities. In that context, it was interesting to note the comments from Eric Abetz on the 7.30 Report tonight. Abetz was responding to a case which starts tomorrow in Fair Work Australia seeking to revalue the work performed (very largely by women) in the community sector. Continue reading ‘Coalition shows it doesn’t care about equal pay for women’

Fair Pay Commission still a misnomer

Published
by
Mark
8 months, 2 weeks ago
in Economics, Industrial Relations and Politics
. 266 Comments

Julia Gillard has criticised the decision of the Fair Pay Commission to award no increase in the federal minimum wage. She accurately notes that the decision will have an impact on other workers as well, because the safety net is the floor which underpins bargaining.

However, Gillard and Kevin Rudd might themselves bear some of the responsibility for this decision, which will – rightly – be a political problem for the Labor government. The Commission was heavily criticised by Labor in opposition, and next year it’s due to be abolished, its functions rolled into the AIRC’s replacement – Fair Work Australia. If the criticisms made of the process and of the narrow economic orthodoxy of its chair, Professor Ian Harper, have merit, it surely should have been open to the ALP to hand back the wage setting powers to the AIRC earlier. The ’softly, softly’ approach to IR reform is full of contradictions, one of which will unfortunately now impact on those least able to afford to shrug their shoulders at the political game. It isn’t a good look for a Labor government.

Elsewhere: Via Andos in comments on another thread, a link to a useful interview on ABC Radio with ACOSS. The point is made that research from the OECD (and from other sources, I might add) debunks the notion that there is a strong correlation between small rises in minimum wages and unemployment.

Update: Matt C notes in comments that the FPC’s own modelling of its previous decisions shows only a minimal effect on unemployment of a decision not to increase the rate.

Elsewhere: Rob Corr.

Update: New post.

Malcolm Turnbull’s WorkChoices

Published
by
Mark
1 year ago
in Industrial Relations and Politics
. 35 Comments

As I write, Malcolm Turnbull is on the telly stealing Paul Keating’s lines, ranting and raving about stuff that happened in 1989, and jabbering about neo-liberalism and Hugo Chavez.

It certainly appears that Malcolm couldn’t resist taking the bait laid out for him in Kevin Rudd’s now notorious Monthly article. And can’t resist being the centre of attention.

And it certainly appears that the spectre of the Overshadow has dragged Turnbull and his party to the right.

But can he really be about to die in the ditch over unfair dismissals at a time when people are very concerned about job security? And reject the bill that overturns WorkChoices?