Ext User(wage Slaves in poverty)
15-10-2005, 02:34 PM
"Happy Larry" <dearlarry@msn.com> wrote in message news:j6U3f.17879$U51.6175@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
| Our minimum wage evolved from the Harvester case.
| The Harvester judgement set a minimum wage for unskilled labourers of 2
| pounds, 2 shillings per week. Justice Higgins set the minimum weekly wage by
| establishing the cost of living - the amount an average worker paid for
| food, shelter and clothing.
|
| The judgement was designed to ensure that a worker could keep his wife and
| children healthy and comfortable. It did not cover women workers as it was
| assumed either their father or their husband would support them.
|
| This was the first time an tribunal"industrial tribunal established
| appropriate wage levels for workers, rather than let employee"employees and
| their employer"employers negotiate between themselves. This approach to
| wages is now known as 'wage fixing'.
|
| Essentials for a decent life for every Australian, every day
|
| Justice Higgins outlined the following as essential for a decent standard of
| living:
|
| civilised habits,
|
| frugal comforts,
|
| decent shelter,
|
| partitioned rooms,
|
| fresh air,
|
| water to wash in,
|
| enough wholesome food,
|
| provision for 'rainy days',
|
| The Harvester judgement said that 'every Australian was entitled to every
| single one of these standards, every day of their lives and that if we as a
| nation did not endorse this, we could not claim to be a civilised society.'
|
| Higgins explained how he made his decision by saying: 'if A lets B have the
| use of his horses, on the terms that he give them fair and reasonable
| treatment, I have no doubt that it is B's duty to give them proper food and
| water, and such shelter and rest as they need; and as wages are the means of
| obtaining commodities, surely the State, in stipulating for fair and
| reasonable remuneration, "remuneration for the employees, means that the
| wages
| shall be sufficient to provide these things, and clothing, and a condition
| of frugal comfort estimated by the current human standards.'
|
| http://www.worksite.actu.asn.au/showall.php3?secid=3&page=article&artid=14&workst_Session=dd2eba2a3d99f307249900e1ef9f4239
|
| Note the change of emphasis. The minimum wage, until now, has been based on
| what the minimum requirements are for an employee to live in a respectable
| manner. The Fair wage commission (as if it wasn't fair before) will be
| comprised by a chairman with a "high level of skills in business or
| economics while the Commissioners must have experience in one or more of the
| following: business; community organizations; workplace relations; and
| economics". You can bet that the people chosen by the Liberal Government to
| fill these positions won't come from ST Vincent De Paul or the ACTU.
|
| The Fair wage Commission Chairman has already been chosen, Professor Ian
| Harper.
|
| Pay Boss Opposed Living Wage
|
| The right-wing economist appointed to head the Howard Government's proposed
| Low Pay Commission is on the record opposing the idea that minimum wage
| levels should sustain basic living standards.
|
| Professor Ian Harper bagged the Harvester Judgement of 1907, where the
| living wage principle was established, in an article for the conservative
| thinktank, the Centre of Independent (Sic) Studies.
|
| While the conservative press is talking up Professor Harper's credential as
| an economist and Christian, his writing on the minimum wage reinforce the
| worst fears of workers that wages are about to head south.
|
| Writing for the CIS Policy magazine, Professor Harper noted how other
| countries weren't burdened with the need to pay a socially determined
| minimum wage:
|
| NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, says the
| appointment of Professor Harper was an indication that minimum wages would
| no longer be based on the cost of living.
|
| "The Commonwealth Minister has previously claimed minimum wages in Australia
| are $70 a week too high," Della Bosca says. "It appears that Professor
| Harper has been hand-picked to fix that."
|
| "There is a school of thought that says employers shouldn't have to pay a
| wage that gives an employee the ability to clothe, feed and shelter
| themselves
|
| "This concept of paying the lowest wage that anyone will work for flies in
| the face of a 100 year old Australian tradition of fairness, based on the
| Harvester Judgement."
|
| http://workers.labor.net.au/285/news84_living.html
|
|
|
| The Fair Pay Commission will set pay rates by the same logic used to set the
| American minimum wage. Business will be "protected" from the necessity of
| being worthy community assets, subsidised by eroding the dignity of employee
| living standards, so that lower quality businesses may profit.
|
| The American minimum wage has not risen since 1997. When a rise in the
| minimum wage is proposed to congress each year the opposing argument is that
| rising wages will increase unemployment and inflation.
|
|
|
| Fair Pay Commission = low quality industry = lower living standards.
|
|
|
| Regards, Larry
When you change jobs, or even get a 'promotion', you could lose out badly,
especially if your boss is greedy or a 'power-tripper'...
The Governments IR ads are lying by omission....
Can you really afford your current lifestyle if these new laws get passed?
--
Anti-Free-Speech 'Terrorism laws' draft:
http://www.chiefminister.act.gov.au/docs/B05PG201_v281.pdf
Have your say.... while you still can................................
| Our minimum wage evolved from the Harvester case.
| The Harvester judgement set a minimum wage for unskilled labourers of 2
| pounds, 2 shillings per week. Justice Higgins set the minimum weekly wage by
| establishing the cost of living - the amount an average worker paid for
| food, shelter and clothing.
|
| The judgement was designed to ensure that a worker could keep his wife and
| children healthy and comfortable. It did not cover women workers as it was
| assumed either their father or their husband would support them.
|
| This was the first time an tribunal"industrial tribunal established
| appropriate wage levels for workers, rather than let employee"employees and
| their employer"employers negotiate between themselves. This approach to
| wages is now known as 'wage fixing'.
|
| Essentials for a decent life for every Australian, every day
|
| Justice Higgins outlined the following as essential for a decent standard of
| living:
|
| civilised habits,
|
| frugal comforts,
|
| decent shelter,
|
| partitioned rooms,
|
| fresh air,
|
| water to wash in,
|
| enough wholesome food,
|
| provision for 'rainy days',
|
| The Harvester judgement said that 'every Australian was entitled to every
| single one of these standards, every day of their lives and that if we as a
| nation did not endorse this, we could not claim to be a civilised society.'
|
| Higgins explained how he made his decision by saying: 'if A lets B have the
| use of his horses, on the terms that he give them fair and reasonable
| treatment, I have no doubt that it is B's duty to give them proper food and
| water, and such shelter and rest as they need; and as wages are the means of
| obtaining commodities, surely the State, in stipulating for fair and
| reasonable remuneration, "remuneration for the employees, means that the
| wages
| shall be sufficient to provide these things, and clothing, and a condition
| of frugal comfort estimated by the current human standards.'
|
| http://www.worksite.actu.asn.au/showall.php3?secid=3&page=article&artid=14&workst_Session=dd2eba2a3d99f307249900e1ef9f4239
|
| Note the change of emphasis. The minimum wage, until now, has been based on
| what the minimum requirements are for an employee to live in a respectable
| manner. The Fair wage commission (as if it wasn't fair before) will be
| comprised by a chairman with a "high level of skills in business or
| economics while the Commissioners must have experience in one or more of the
| following: business; community organizations; workplace relations; and
| economics". You can bet that the people chosen by the Liberal Government to
| fill these positions won't come from ST Vincent De Paul or the ACTU.
|
| The Fair wage Commission Chairman has already been chosen, Professor Ian
| Harper.
|
| Pay Boss Opposed Living Wage
|
| The right-wing economist appointed to head the Howard Government's proposed
| Low Pay Commission is on the record opposing the idea that minimum wage
| levels should sustain basic living standards.
|
| Professor Ian Harper bagged the Harvester Judgement of 1907, where the
| living wage principle was established, in an article for the conservative
| thinktank, the Centre of Independent (Sic) Studies.
|
| While the conservative press is talking up Professor Harper's credential as
| an economist and Christian, his writing on the minimum wage reinforce the
| worst fears of workers that wages are about to head south.
|
| Writing for the CIS Policy magazine, Professor Harper noted how other
| countries weren't burdened with the need to pay a socially determined
| minimum wage:
|
| NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, says the
| appointment of Professor Harper was an indication that minimum wages would
| no longer be based on the cost of living.
|
| "The Commonwealth Minister has previously claimed minimum wages in Australia
| are $70 a week too high," Della Bosca says. "It appears that Professor
| Harper has been hand-picked to fix that."
|
| "There is a school of thought that says employers shouldn't have to pay a
| wage that gives an employee the ability to clothe, feed and shelter
| themselves
|
| "This concept of paying the lowest wage that anyone will work for flies in
| the face of a 100 year old Australian tradition of fairness, based on the
| Harvester Judgement."
|
| http://workers.labor.net.au/285/news84_living.html
|
|
|
| The Fair Pay Commission will set pay rates by the same logic used to set the
| American minimum wage. Business will be "protected" from the necessity of
| being worthy community assets, subsidised by eroding the dignity of employee
| living standards, so that lower quality businesses may profit.
|
| The American minimum wage has not risen since 1997. When a rise in the
| minimum wage is proposed to congress each year the opposing argument is that
| rising wages will increase unemployment and inflation.
|
|
|
| Fair Pay Commission = low quality industry = lower living standards.
|
|
|
| Regards, Larry
When you change jobs, or even get a 'promotion', you could lose out badly,
especially if your boss is greedy or a 'power-tripper'...
The Governments IR ads are lying by omission....
Can you really afford your current lifestyle if these new laws get passed?
--
Anti-Free-Speech 'Terrorism laws' draft:
http://www.chiefminister.act.gov.au/docs/B05PG201_v281.pdf
Have your say.... while you still can................................