Obfuscated Thoughtlessness Inversed

"Women's pay has dropped significantly under the new [Industrial Relations] laws with real average earnings for women in the private sector falling by 2.0% and a majority of award workers suffering a real wage cut averaging almost 1% under the new minimum wage setting process." - from a a summary of Brave New Workchoices - What is the story so far

The new Labour laws aren't even a year old yet, but they have caused a major transition in the Australian workplace. The changes are broad and characterized by a few of the headlines from Austrlian unions this week.

Some examples from this week's union press releases and labour news in Australia:

• As the old ways of working out workplace conflicts are falling apart the Melbourne-area Paramedics are forced to threaten to withdraw services over the lack of due process in the firing of a colleague: Melbourne ambulance paramedics to take historic stop-work action.
• Dick Cheney is coming to Australia for a visit and meanwhile his old company Halliburton's construction subsidiary uses the new workplace laws to justify preventing free speech and the display of a union flag on a construction site.
  
• The minimum wage officially went up on December 1 for Australia's lowest paid meanwhile real wages fell.
  
• Workers' paradise yields to new reality as union owned vacation spot for workers with a capacity for 2,000 per night is sold to fund the campaign against the new laws.
  
• Australian federal treasurer Peter Costello says the new laws have resulted in a lower unemployment rate of 4.5%. The Australian Council of Trade Unions rightly points out that the 30 year low in unemployment is a result of a fall in the participation rate and that there has been a net loss in actual jobs.
  
• Unions have virtually ruled out taking strike action over the proposed Qantas sale because they fear being penalized under the tough federal industrial laws.

You can always find the latest Labour headlines at Labourstart where trade unionists start their day. The latest news is even sortable by country as in Australia and Canada.

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