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Category Archives: Industrial relations
BRIAN LAWRENCE. The Government’s tax package and Labor’s response: the perspective of a cleaner
The Government’s tax package is unfair to low paid workers. In response, the Labor Opposition has just announced that it will support Stage 1 of the package, within which is embeded much of that unfairness. How might we reduce the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Politics
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JOHN MENADUE. Corporate failure in Australia. They just don’t get it.
There is a growing and unfortunate litany of corporate failures in Australia – and not just the banks and energy suppliers. There is wage theft on a large scale. Instead of addressing their own obvious failures the BCA accuses its … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Economy, Industrial relations
2 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. We are paying an enormous price to keep Christopher Pyne in Parliament
The Coalition Government ended our car manufacturing industry which had an Effective Rate of Protection of 8%. It employed 200,000 people. We are told by the Government that the void in SA will be filled by building the new French … Continue reading
Posted in Industrial relations, Infrastructure
4 Comments
JERRY ROBERTS Bill Shorten, Chris Bowen, Steve Bannon and the TPP
When Bill Shorten on camera announced that Labor would support the TPP he looked like a schoolboy telling the teacher that the dog ate his homework. Bill knew his excuse was phony. Will the TPP be the issue that finally … Continue reading
Posted in Industrial relations, International Affairs
5 Comments
BHIM BHURTEL. Nepal looks toward China as a measure of last resort
After an exchange of high-level trips between Nepal and India, Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli is to land in Beijing on Tuesday for a five-day state visit. It will be his second state visit since his accession to … Continue reading
Posted in Industrial relations
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JOHN WARHURST. The Coalition’s special disrespect for unions.
The raid on the offices of the Australian Workers Union by the Australian Federal Police demonstrates a disrespect for trade unions contrary to the Catholic tradition. Since the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891, Catholic Social Teaching has recognised the … Continue reading
Posted in Industrial relations, Politics
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ALLAN PATIENCE. Base politics or incredibly clumsy policing?
Police raids on political parties or associated institutions at any time should raise concerns – and the hackles – among democratically minded citizens. The recent raids on AWU offices in Sydney and Melbourne, seemingly in search for “dirt” on Bill … Continue reading
Posted in Industrial relations, Politics
5 Comments
NAISHAD KAIN-REN. Saudi Arabia’s Footprints in Southeast Asia
Saudi Arabia’s increased influence in Muslim-majority countries will have wider ramifications for ASEAN.
Posted in Industrial relations
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STEPHEN LONG. Reserve Bank boss Philip Lowe urges workers to push for pay rises
It wasn’t quite Karl Marx, but, for a central bank boss, it was heady stuff: The Reserve Bank governor, no less, exhorting workers to demand higher pay rises.
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations
2 Comments
MICHAEL WALKER. Three strategies unions are considering for their survival
There are three strategies unions, in danger of lsing their relevance, can consider for their survival: Teaming up with other community groups, aligning with particular professions and finding members online.
Posted in Industrial relations, Politics
1 Comment
JOHN MENADUE. 457 visas and our temporary residence system.
In light of government announcement on 457 visas, I have reposted below an article originally posted on 18 November 2016. See also at end, a link to an article by Joanna Howe in The Canberra Times yesterday. John Menadue. Oversight … Continue reading
WAYNE McMILLAN. David versus Goliath: reform and reinvention (Part 2 of 2)
What Sally McManus’s is saying is correct, I agree with her conclusions about what has happened to workers over the last 30 years and what is becoming intolerable now in 2017. Across Australia in 2017, little or no wage growth, … Continue reading
WAYNE McMILLAN. David and Goliath: One step forward, two steps back. (Part 1 of 2)
Malcom Turnbull’s recent comment that he couldn’t work with Sally McManus the recently elected Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is just another excuse against strong union representation for ordinary waged workers.
DAVID PEETZ. How tax minimisation affects CEO pay
Firms whose executives behave ‘unethically’, as proxied by not paying any company tax, are also likely to pay their CEOs an average of around a fifth more than firms of similar size and circumstances who do pay company tax.
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Politics
Tagged David Peetz, tax minimisation and CEO pay
2 Comments
IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country – Introduction
John Menadue – introduction to Ian McAuley Series. Many have been surprised and even horrified by the Brexit and Trump results. These events are likely to be followed by similar outcomes in elections in other countries this year. Serious issues … Continue reading
IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 1 – Who’s been left behind?
In “developed” countries the benefits of 35 years of economic growth have been unevenly distributed. Many people who once had well-paid manufacturing jobs and many who live in the country have fallen behind. While this has been most starkly manifest … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Education, Health, Industrial relations, International Affairs, Media, Politics
Tagged Brexit and Trump, Brexit-Trump series, Chinese economy, competition, exchange rate, Hilary Clinton, Ian McAuley, inequality, manufacturing workers, Murdoch-media, One Nation, social democratic parties, unionised working class, urban-rural division
2 Comments
IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 3 – Globalization takes the rap, unfairly
Globalization has been only one of the developments that has led to widening inequality and social exclusion. Countries that have globalized have also introduced a raft of neoliberal domestic policies, against which people are reacting.
Posted in Economy, Education, Environment and climate, Health, Industrial relations, International Affairs, Politics
Tagged Bretton Woods, Brexit-Trump series, European Union, fixed exchange rates, foreign ownership, Free Trade Agreements, globalisation, Gonski, Hawke-Keating government, Ian McAuley, IMF, Medicare, mixed economy, neoliberalism, technological change, World Bank, WTO
1 Comment
BOB KINNAIRD. Indian IT professionals on rock bottom 457 wages undermine Turnbull’s ‘innovation’ dream
The Coalition’s cheap labour 457 visa wage policy is destroying jobs for young Australians lured into studying IT courses under the Turnbull government’s high profile ‘Innovation’ push… Indian 457 visa IT workers are being approved at much lower rates than … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Refugees, Immigration
Tagged 457 visas, Bob Kinnaird, Indian IT workers
1 Comment
DAVID PEETZ. The battle over the Building and Construction Commission isn’t finished yet
Now that the ABCC will mostly be a mere shadow of its former self, the Building Code becomes an even more important point of distinction. … It is the identity and ideology of the Director of the ABCC that matters … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations
Tagged ABCC, building code, construction costs, David Peetz
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull will do anything to secure an outcome.
Malcolm Turnbull’s experience in negotiation has been in the boardroom of Goldman Sachs, but the atmosphere of the Senate crossbench is more akin to that of the Istanbul Souk.
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Politics
Tagged ABCC, backpacker tax, Malcolm Turnbull, Mungo MacCallum
1 Comment
IAN McAULEY. Holden cars, AWA TVs, Chesty Bonds underwear: Manufacturing and globalisation
Ian McAuley argues that it has not been globalisation and trade that has been the biggest factor displacing jobs in manufacturing. It has been automation.
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Politics
Tagged automation, Essential Poll, franchise restrictions, globalisation, Ian McAuley, Manufacturing in Australia
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TIM HARCOURT. Trump, Trade and jobs
Australia needs to remember that embracing open markets can only be done with well developed market institutions and social safety nets. Whether you love or loathe the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump can get an economic policy issue … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Politics
Tagged Free Trade, open markets and labour markets, Tim Harcourt, trade agreements, Trump and protection
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DAVID PEETZ. An industrial relations furphy.
The media excitement surrounding the theatrics of former Senator Bob Day and current Senator Rod Culleton seemed to obscure the real issues facing the federal government’s industrial relations legislation. The government failed to put bills re-establishing the Australian Building and … Continue reading
JOHN MENADUE. Donald Trump – a false prophet and implications for Australia.
Trump prides himself in being a change-agent, but he really wants to restore the past and protect privilege. He will also do a great deal of social damage. Analysis of the US election tells us that many American ‘working … Continue reading
JOHN MENADUE. Our Working Holiday Programs have lost their way.
I have been an advocate of Working Holiday Programs (WHPs) for over 40 years. These programs were an excellent opportunity to ‘foster closer ties and cultural exchanges between Australia and partner countries with particular emphasis on young adults.’. The … Continue reading
NATALIA NIKOLOVA, ROBYN JOHNS, WALTER JARVIS. We need to change more than pay for executives to do better.
The pay of executives of a company, whether in salary, bonuses or other types of remuneration, is usually justified as an incentive to improve the financial performance of a company. This has led to ever more complex performance packages … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations
Tagged CEO pay, ethics, executive pay, executive remuneration, Natalia Nikolova, Robyn Johns, The Conversation, Walter Jarvis
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JULIE WALKER. Australia should compare CEO and average worker pay like the US and UK.
Australia should follow the lead of the United States in requiring public companies to disclose how much their CEO makes each year directly compared to an “average” rank and file employee. Ballooning executive pay contributes to income inequality and … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations
Tagged CEO pay, income, income inequality, Julie Walker, salary transparency, The Conversation
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BOB KINNAIRD. The Coalition’s Backpacker tax and work rights package
The Coalition’s backpacker policy announcement yesterday focussed on tax rates but also includes a significant expansion of work rights under Australia’s working holiday maker program (WHM or 417 and 462 visas). …. The Coalition’s main aim is to provide … Continue reading
Posted in Industrial relations, International Affairs, Politics, Refugees, Immigration
Tagged backpacker tax, Bob Kinnaird, cheap foreign labour, Fair Work Ombudsman, wage exploitation, working holiday makers
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JOHN MENADUE. ‘Faster economic growth demands better chief executives’.
There was a revealing heading in a recent article by Ross Gittins, the economics editor of the SMH, ‘Faster growth demands better chief executives’. He concluded his article by pointing to the need for business leadership to seize the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Infrastructure, International Affairs, Politics
Tagged Australian bank performance, Australian business and Asia, Business Council of Australia, capital write offs, Deloitte Access, Ross Gittins, SMH
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MARIE SEGRAVE. Exploitation of foreign workers.
On Tuesday night, SBS’ Insight program aired concerns about temporary migrant labour exploitation. These issues tend to come to national attention when a particular case is exposed, but mostly they are not seen as national priorities – and, as … Continue reading