Wages

Wage stagnation linked to decline in industrial action

A new report by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work says there is a "close statistical relationship" between a dramatic reduction in industrial activity and stagnation in wages.

Its research shows there has been a 97% decline in industrial action from the 1970s to the present, which has weakened the bargaining power of workers.

Retirement village staff walk out over unpaid wages

Staff at the Berkeley Living retirement village in Patterson Lakes, Victoria, walked off the job on September 15 after months of not being paid. Some staff returned the next day to look after residents on a voluntary basis.

Consumer Affairs Victoria is also investigating reports that the village operators owe money to former residents.

The daughter of a former resident backed up claims that staff had not been paid properly, but said they were providing the best care they were able to. “They are feeding the patients out of their own pockets,” she told ABC News.

Why isn't technology making our lives easier?

Last month I read an article that first appeared in the Huffington Post titled "X Marks the Spot Where Inequality Took Root: Dig Here". It explains how real wages in the US shadowed growth in productivity in the years after World War II. But in the mid-1970s wages growth completely stalled. If wages had continued to shadow productivity growth they would now be double what they are today. This explains a lot about contemporary US society: all the gains of increased productivity have been absorbed by the rich.

eheadspace bosses stressing workers

Nearly 70 staff at eheadspace — the national youth mental health service headspace's round-the-clock telephone and online counselling provider — were told they had just 24 hours to sign on to individual agreements that locked in year-long wage freezes, or they would lose their jobs. A dispute has been listed in the Fair Work Commission after headspace refused requests to extend the deadline. "For an iconic healthcare service, they don't treat their staff with any better respect than 7-Eleven or Grill'd," Health and Community Services Union organiser Serena Ho said.

7-Eleven worker paid 47 cents an hour

A Pakistani student, Sohail, was paid only 47 cents an hour to work at a 7-Eleven store in Sydney. He is one of 60 workers claiming back pay from 7-Eleven. When another worker, Pranay Alawala, complained about receiving only $12 an hour, his employer said they would tell immigration officials he had been working too many hours, which was in breach of his student visa. He received $33,000 in back pay.

Good News (for a change)

FRANCE BANS GROCERS FROM THROWING OUT LEFTOVER FOOD French supermarkets will be banned from throwing away or destroying unsold food and must instead donate it to charities or for animal feed, under a law passed unanimously by the French National Assembly to crack down on food waste.

Global solidarity for Cambodian garment workers campaign for living wage

Activists demonstrated outside global big brand fashion outlets in the centre of Sydney's central shopping district on September 17 to demand that these companies pay the workers who make their products (in countries like Cambodia) living wages and respect their right to organise. Other solidarity actions in Australia were held in Canberra and Melbourne.