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The 'end of the age of entitlement' doesn't apply to Murdoch's empire

Let’s be very clear: when treasurer Joe Hockey announced “the end of the age of entitlement” amidst the threatened closure of the SPC cannery in Shepparton, the withdrawal of Toyota from Australian manufacturing and the planned shutdown of Holden in South Australia, he was not talking about the expectations of corporate Australia. He was declaring an end only to a working-class expectation of basic job security.
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http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...f-entitlement-doesnt-apply-to-murdochs-empire
 
The article rips the heart out off Abbott's BS.

Real wages actually fell last year, so if we’re about to have a pay rise explosion, someone better hurry up and light the fuse

Wages increased in 2013 by less than inflation did, which suggests that real wages actually fell last year. The last time this has happened was during the GFC.
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And as for the manufacturing workers unions acting like it is boom time, the data gives that line a bit of a smack as well. In the manufacturing sector the growth in wages under enterprise agreements is at its lowest since 1994
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It’s fine for employer groups, the government and media outlets such as the Australian and the Australian Financial Review to argue for more flexibility in our IR system. But people who look at the past four years and still utter the phrase “wages boom” are just the economic equivalent of climate-change deniers.
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http://www.theguardian.com/business...ts-economic-equivalent-climate-change-deniers
 
IFocus said:
The article rips the heart out off Abbott's BS.

Real wages actually fell last year, so if we’re about to have a pay rise explosion, someone better hurry up and light the fuse

http://www.theguardian.com/business...ts-economic-equivalent-climate-change-deniers
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So we're ok now, no more job loses due to being uncompetitive, thanks IFocus.
I'll ring my kids in the mines and tell them all's good.lol

Oh by the way talking about BS, wasn't it funny that Qantas had a $300million loss that included a carbon tax of $100million.
Would that qualify as Gillard BS that cost jobs at Qantas.lol

Or the fact we are shutting down low cost coal generators at Kwinana to install gas units.lol
 
sptrawler said:
So we're ok now, no more job loses due to being uncompetitive, thanks IFocus.
I'll ring my kids in the mines and tell them all's good.lol

Oh by the way talking about BS, wasn't it funny that Qantas had a $300million loss that included a carbon tax of $100million.
Would that qualify as Gillard BS that cost jobs at Qantas.lol

Or the fact we are shutting down low cost coal generators at Kwinana to install gas units.lol
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Don't forget the $40,000,000 carbon tax bill Alcoa had to pay.
 
Looks like work-non choices is going to get a re-run soon I think I believe the bottom opinion rather the Abetz

Senator Abetz confirmed, when asked about the changes, that they would allow workers to trade off penalty rates for family time.

He stressed it would be employees who decided if this trade-off suited them, and not employers dictating that penalty rates be signed away. ''If the worker is better off overall as determined by the worker, why should some collective agreement seek to deny the individual that right?''
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''This is a blatant attempt to cut pay and conditions … despite all the pre-election promises,'' she said. ''Minister Abetz talks about imaginary workers that want to give up penalty rates for nothing. We're yet to find a worker that thinks this is a good deal.''
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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...r-work-laws-20140220-334db.html#ixzz2tuE0bs5t
 
sptrawler said:
So we're ok now, no more job loses due to being uncompetitive, thanks IFocus.
I'll ring my kids in the mines and tell them all's good.lol
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Just tell your kids its all Labor's fault and that your mate Tony is going to cut their pay and conditions......all good.

I actually think its all heading in the wrong direction and yet to see any hope this government is going to do any thing other than redistribute wealth to their top end mates (like the US 17% from the middle class to the top .5%)

It's class war on steroids.
 
IFocus said:
Just tell your kids its all Labor's fault and that your mate Tony is going to cut their pay and conditions......all good.

I actually think its all heading in the wrong direction and yet to see any hope this government is going to do any thing other than redistribute wealth to their top end mates (like the US 17% from the middle class to the top .5%)

It's class war on steroids.
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You really do live in another universe don't you.

The nickel mining company my son works for, asked everyone to take a pay cut over 12 months ago.
The guys agreed to it, or the mine was going to shut down.

You and your ideology would have everyone out of a job, but that's fine.:xyxthumbs
 
sptrawler said:
It will end badly unless workers and business get into a profit sharing model. Where pay rises are linked to improved profits.
Sounds easy, but it will be just about imposible to implement.
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Fully agree, but with the Coalition Government demonising workers and unions I don't see it happening.

No idea if an Accord can be done with union membership lower, but some form of solidarity needs to be seen or people wont be too happy feeling they are bearing more than their fair share of the costs to regain our international competitiveness.

John Brogden - chief executive of the Financial Services Council - has been bemoaning the fact that with 1.7T in super it's a shame Aussie fund managers only have about 5% of FUM from overseas. Shows that what looks like should be a competitive industry can't compete on the global stage.
 
sptrawler said:
The nickel mining company my son works for, asked everyone to take a pay cut over 12 months ago.
The guys agreed to it, or the mine was going to shut down.
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How much of a pay cut did the board and CEO take?
 
bunyip said:
AWU boss Paul Howes recently said that workers were pricing themselves out of the market.
Do you agree or disagree with him?
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A lot of wages in Australia are high, but then CEo pay has risen 3 times faster than the plebs underneath them.

There's also the issue that wages in a lot of business are not the biggest cost, but rents are, yet there's no focus on the causes of over priced land in this country, nor any policies by the tweedle dum and tweedle dee major parties to resolve it.

There will need to be a lot of sacrifice to get us competitive again, but if there's not at least the perception the pain is being share by everyone, and seriously politicians getting 3 pay rises in less than 2 years doesn't qualify for it, but demonisng workers and unions is definitely not the way forward.

Besides removing the carbon tax, which has had little impact on the economy and has provided a tidy profit via the sale of excess permits to many trade exposed companies, what is the Abbott Govt doing to improve the general competitiveness of the Australian economy?
 
bunyip said:
AWU boss Paul Howes recently said that workers were pricing themselves out of the market.
Do you agree or disagree with him?
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Paul Howes is a media tart looking for a safe seat he would'nt know what a worker looked like if he fell over one.

Here in WA we still struggle to get skilled trades, where will they come from if your mate Abbott keeps killing industries that train them but throws money at his media mogul mates.

Mining BTW train SFA skilled trades pay bugger all tax and get massive tax breaks on fuel etc but still keep believing your mate Abbott lying about over paid workers, the SPC / Cadbury thing was utter and total BS.
 
Reality bites: pollies fake it for the cameras

This sort of thinking, where facts bend like light through a prism to suit political necessity, are a commonplace.

Did outrageous award conditions put SPC Ardmona in a hard place? Yes, say the politicians. No, says the company.

Same story at Toyota. And Holden.

Did the carbon tax play a leading hand in the Alcoa smelter decision? No, says Alcoa. Yes, says government. Is Australian business enduring a wages boom that tears at the heart of business and erodes slim profitability? Yes, says government. No, says the Australian Bureau of Statistics: "The growth in wages over the last year of 2.6 per cent seasonally adjusted was the smallest through the year rise since the series commenced in 1997."
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It's a joke isn't it ? This mindless, viscous excuse for a government wants to slash the penalty rates of hospitality staff and factory workers to do what ? Just ensure the CEO's can buy another private plane?

And exactly how are working people supposed to survive if their wages are cut by 15-20-25% ? :banghead:

If this piece of industrial relations is successful I can see some excellent job opportunities for security guards on all the government MPS.
 
basilio said:
If this piece of industrial relations is successful I can see some excellent job opportunities for security guards on all the government MPS.
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Yes it is quite possible that union thuggery will endanger Coalition MPs. Let's hope the Royal Commission will curb Union thuggery and skulduggery, before that stage is reached.

The 1996 Parliament House Riot gave us a preview of the lynch-mob depths they would stoop to.
 
So the Health Minister says "Today I ask you to help steer our country to a frank, fearless and far-reaching discussion on our health system. Why? Well, partly the answer lies in the latest statistics on obesity and diabetes in this country.''

He goes on to say ''Rising rates of obesity and diabetes may be the seeds of a future crisis - yet they are just two of several that we as a nation and society must confront.''

The same Health Minister who's allowed his assistant Health Minister to shut down a website designed to help combat the obesity epidemic by providing people more information on the food they eat. Obviously the Minister believes we must confront the issue via ignorance and lack of easy access to information that might actually help us.

It is also the same minister who's cut funding to the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, which is another silent killer of Australians. Maybe an evidence based approach to drug addiction wasn't compatible with a Government that lacks a Minister for Science?

Combined with the FOFA legislation being watered down and the removal of the LISC for 3.6M true Aussie battlers, while increasing the incomes of 16,000 struggling ultra wealthy super pensioners, it's sadly becoming increasingly obvious this Government is not about the great unwashed.
 
Mike Carlton on Downers appointment

On a much happier note, how thrilling that Lord Downer has so graciously agreed to be our man in London, Australia's high commissioner to the Court of St James.

It is a splendid posting, infinitely well merited. In his distinguished career as foreign affairs minister, Downer was a pivotal figure in the Coalition of the Willing's triumphant victory in the Iraq War, doing so much to bring about the peace, democracy and security flowering in the Middle East today. And all that as we sold wheat to Saddam Hussein and deftly shovelled hundreds of millions of dollars into the tyrant's bank account for the privilege.
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It's fitting, too, that Downer will be following in the footsteps of his father, Sir Alec, also a former Liberal cabinet minister, and high commissioner from 1963 to 1972. Although the Labour government of Harold Wilson held office for most of those years, Downer snr famously spent much of his time brown-nosing the High Tory establishment in energetic but sadly fruitless pursuit of a peerage.

''While Downer had certain merits, he had not been a success as high commissioner,'' wrote Sir Paul Hasluck, then the Liberal foreign minister and later governor-general. ''He was too easily charmed by being recognised by some member of the nobility, and felt he had done great service to Australia if he were on speaking terms with some member of the royal family. He knew too many of the nice people and scarcely any of the bastards.''
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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/plain-sailing-but-heads-will-roll-20140221-3379y.html#ixzz2u091X4h2
 
as per Syds comments

Government silent on why it axed alcohol harm body

An alcohol harm reduction body has accused the federal government of an ''appalling level of transparency'' after it refused to release documents explaining why it axed the nation's drug and alcohol body after almost 50 years of operation.

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education had its freedom of information request denied on the grounds it was ''not in the public interest''.
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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...l-harm-body-20140221-337h8.html#ixzz2u09UqcvY
 
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