World Economic Forum "Global Gender Gap Report 2016" - Australia

In 2016 the World Economic Forum ranked Australia in the top tier when it came to educational attainment – with  females having an equal literacy rate, comparable rates to males when it came to primary and secondary school enrolments and, a much higher rate of enrolment in tertiary education.

Yet this year Australia ranks 46^th out of 144 nations on the Global Gender Gap Index. In 2006 this country managed 15^th place out of 115.

In terms of ranking for economic participation and opportunity Australia was placed 42^nd.

However, in terms of wage equality for similar work (equal wage), high-income classified Australia now ranks 60^th and 57^th on estimated earned income - females on average earning est. 37 per cent less per annum than males.

In overall ranking the countries which do better than Australia are from 1 through to 45; Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Rwanda, Ireland, Philippines, Slovenia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Switzerland, Burundi, Germany, Namibia, South Africa, Netherlands, France, Latvia, Denmark, United Kingdom, Mozambique, Estonia, Bolivia, Belgium, Lithuania, Moldova, Cuba, Barbados, Spain, Belarus, Portugal, Costa Rica, Argentina, Luxembourg, Canada, Cape Verde, Bahamas, Poland, Columbia, Ecuador, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Lao PDR, Trinidad and Tobago & the United States.

When it comes to the number of women with seats in parliament or holding ministerial positions, Australia ranks 50^th and 75^th respectively.

At this rate Australian women will reach full economic and political parity with men in about 200 years.

Queensland Government being sued to finally return other people's money

ABC News, 23 September 2016:

Lawyers say a class action in Queensland over unpaid wages to Aboriginal people is setting a national precedent, as dozens more come forward in other states to say they were not paid properly.

More than 300 people are suing the Queensland Government in the Federal Court, which held money in a trust that should have been paid to them as labourers or domestic workers more than half a century ago.

Rebecca Jancauskas, from Shine lawyers, said the class actions first directions hearing this week had revealed that the litigation proceedings would be speedy because of the advanced age of the claimants.

"It was clear that these claims are being taken seriously by federal court bench," she said.

"And proceedings have set the tone for litigation in other states where protectionist legislation was in place and wages were withheld from Indigenous people.

"So what we're doing at Shine is investigating bringing proceedings in other states — including the Northern Territory, Western Australia and NSW."……

The Queensland Government did set up a reparations scheme in 2002, but Ms Jancauskas said claimants only received between $2,000 and $7,000 for decades of work as labourers, stockmen or domestic servants.

"The amount they received through the reparations scheme was but a fraction of the money that the Government is holding in trust for them," Ms Jancauskas said.

"Had people received their entitlements through reparations schemes, then there would be no need for litigation to be pursued."

Those who took part in the scheme had to sign a deed of release, stopping them from taking further action.

But Ms Jancauskas said that would not stop them from participating in the litigation.

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Minister for Employment, Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash, is learning the hard way that Australians expect the boss to act fairly

As a recognised bargaining representative of the Turnbull Government, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Minister for Employment, Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash is once more before the Australian Fair Work Commission.

Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), media release, 17 August 2016:

CPSU TAKES ON MINISTER MICHAELIA CASH IN FAIR WORK COMMISSION

The CPSU has taken Employment Minister Michaelia Cash to the Fair Work Commission over her failure to engage in good faith around enterprise agreements for Commonwealth public sector workers.

The case is based on Minister Cash’s refusal to deal constructively with the CPSU, including refusing to discuss or properly consider the union’s fair and reasonable proposals to settle bargaining across multiple Commonwealth agencies.

Action in Fair Work is part of the union’s multi-pronged plan to make the Turnbull Government fix its public sector bargaining mess; the strategy also includes industrial action at international airports and elsewhere, community campaigning targeted in marginal electorates and repeated efforts to engage directly with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister Cash.

CPSU National President Alistair Waters said: “Minister Michaelia Cash is responsible for setting and implementing the Turnbull Government’s harsh and unworkable approach to public sector bargaining. We’re taking her to Fair Work to hold her and the Turnbull Government accountable for this debacle that’s unfairly attacked workers for nearly three years.”

“Minister Cash hasn’t just refused to meet with the CPSU, she has also publicly misrepresented our position on numerous occasions and otherwise tried to undermine our attempts to help her fix the Turnbull Government’s bargaining mess. Our members have shown a willingness to compromise but Minister Cash’s responses have been consistently toxic and unfair.”

“There’s a bitter irony that we’ve had to take Minister Cash to the Fair Work Commission to get her to fulfil even her most basic obligations. This is the person who as Employment Minister is responsible for the Fair Work Act she’s flouting by actively undermining bargaining.”

“Public sector workers have fought for nearly three years to protect their existing rights against this Government’s bargaining attacks and they are determined to secure a fair and reasonable outcome. The only way for this protracted dispute to end is for the Turnbull Government to realise that its attempts to force workers to give up family friendly rights and other conditions have failed, and instead engage with us on a sensible alternative.”

“Our action in the Fair Work Commission is just one part of a much broader strategy to pressure Prime Minister Turnbull and Minister Cash to fix their bargaining debacle. We’re also planning further industrial action in the wake of last week’s Immigration and Border Force strike at international airports and elsewhere and continuing with our community campaigning in marginal electorates.”

So what's happening with the Fair Work Commission's penalty rate review?

By December 2015 the Fair Work Commission’s penalty rates review had generated five days of transcripts and received a large number of submissions from employer groups, unions representing employees and one federal Labor MP, Melissa Price.

This last hearing date in the penalty rates case is scheduled for 15 April 2016.

There will be a good many households in rural and regional Australia where those with paid employment receive penalty rates for working long and/or unsociable hours.

As the two industry groups being targeted are significant employers outside metropolitan areas, perhaps those living in the NSW Northern Rivers region should all be closely watching the Commission at work and the degree to which its final determinations align with the data to which it has access.

The Fair Work Commission in its Changing work patterns report has this to say in December 2015:

5 Conclusion

This report presented data on changes in the labour market, types of work arrangements and preferences, and how people spend their time outside of work.

The analysis showed that the Australian labour market has changed over the last 25 years.

Although the participation rate for males has fallen over time, it has increased for females, while the decline in male full-time employment has been offset by an increase in part-time employment.

Further, employment in the services industries has increased, along with the proportion of Professionals and Community and personal services workers.

Data from the ABS showed that most employed persons worked Monday to Friday, and five days was the most common number of days worked in all jobs per week, with almost one in three employees usually working weekends.

Focusing on the nature of weekend work, data from the HILDA survey also showed that around one in three employed persons usually worked weekends.

Employed persons who usually worked weekends were more likely to have their working days vary and work a rotating shift or irregular schedule.

They were also more likely to work part-time hours, be employed on a casual basis, prefer to work more hours and be currently enrolled in a course of study for a trade certificate, diploma, degree or other education qualification.

Around one in three employed persons who usually worked weekends were employed in Retail trade or Accommodation and food services.

Employed persons in these industries were more likely to prefer working more hours, taking into account how it would affect income. Data on activities outside of work showed that the total number of minutes per day spent on free time activities decreased between 1997 and 2006 and that almost half of those surveyed never attend religious services.

According to the Fair Work Commission as at June 2014 nationally there were 13,212 accommodation businesses, 35,457 cafes and restaurants, 3,583 catering services, 6,067 pubs, taverns and bars, 2,908 hospitality clubs and 24,035 takeaway food services.

The Fair Work Commission also produced an Industry profile— Accommodation and food services in December 2015:

Data for June to November 2015 show that the industry accounted for: over $80 billion of sales and 2.6 per cent of value added to the economy; 7 per cent of employment, almost 6 per cent of actual hours worked per week in all jobs and over 4 per cent of wages;  around 4 per cent of all businesses and 17 per cent of all award-reliant employees; around 1 per cent of investment;  around 16 per cent of total underemployment; and around $6.6 billion in company gross operating profit……

Over half of enterprises in Accommodation and food services used shift work arrangements compared with less than one quarter across all industries. The most common shift work arrangements among enterprises in Accommodation and food services were evening and night shifts, short shifts of four hours or less, afternoon shifts and eight-hour shifts.

When the data is broken down: (i) 10.7 per cent of these businesses open on one or both days on a weekend; and (ii) 44.5 per cent of all businesses supplying accommodation and food services are found in rural and regional Australia.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) business profitability tables show that; in the September Quarter 2012 seasonally adjusted total accommodation & food service industry profit-before-tax was $966 million ($1.2 billion in December Quarter 2012), in the same quarter in 2013 it was $844 million ($744 million in December 2013), in September Quarter 2014 it was $1.1 billion ($1.1 billion in December Quarter 2014 ) and, by September Quarter 2015 total profit was still holding at $1.1 billion.

The Fair Work Commission states as at June 2014 there were 130,000 businesses in the retail trade. The highest individual sector percentage of these was clothing retailers at 8.4 per cent, super markets/grocery stores at 7.3 per cent, other specialized food retailing at 4.2 per cent and, electrical/electronic/gas appliance retailing at 3.6 per cent.

The Fair Work Commission published an Industry profile— Retail trade in December 2015:

The highest proportion of enterprises in Retail trade operated seven days a week, followed by weekdays and Saturday, while across all industries, the highest proportion of enterprises operated weekdays only…..

A lower proportion of enterprises in Retail trade used shift work arrangements compared with all industries. The most common shift work arrangements used in both enterprises in Retail trade and across all industries were set rosters and eight-hour shifts.

When it comes to retail businesses: (i) 39.9 per cent operate on one or both days on a weekend; and (ii) 43.6 per cent of are located in rural and regional Australia.

According to the latest available ABS statistical data relating to business profitability; in the September Quarter 2012 seasonally adjusted total retail industry profit-before-tax was $3.2 billion, in the same quarter in 2013 it was $3.3 billion, in September Quarter 2014 it was $3.8 billion and, by September Quarter 2015 these profits had risen to $3.8 billion. 

How will Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce & Nationals MP Kevin Hogan handle local opposition to Turnbull Government's move to lower penalty rates?

Electorates in Northern New South Wales, such as Page and New England have an long-established tourism component in their local economies.

Both full-time, part-time and casual retail and hospitality workers play a big part in the tourism industry in these rural and regional areas, so it is interesting to note that local opposition to the Turnbull Government’s less than subtle move against weekend penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors is obviously on the radar of local voters.

The Australia Institute:

Polling in key Liberal and National Party seats shows strong opposition to reducing Sunday penalty rates for retail workers, according to new ReachTEL polling commissioned by The Australia Institute.

Polling conducted across the electorates of Page, New England, Warringah and Dickson on 17th December shows that between 65% and 79% of people in these electorates want Sunday penalty rates in the retail industry kept the same or increased.

“The research underscores the political difficulty any Government faces if they allow Sunday penalty rates to be cut,” said Ben Oquist, Executive Director of The Australia Institute.

“Furthermore the consequences for lowering Sunday penalty rates for the macro economy need to be considered. Lowering the take-home pay for many low paid employees, who are more likely to spend most of their income, could lower the amount of spending in the economy with negative flow on effects for economic growth and employment,” said Mr Oquist.

Page MP Kevin Hogan initially called these local concerns a beat up.

However, with media reporting the possibility that Page and Richmond workers losing a minimum est. $12.2 million and $11.8 million in total income respectively, this was perhaps not the wisest choice of words to use in an election year.

Given that in his own electorate 74.6 percent of all those of all those surveyed and 56 per cent of those Nationals supporters surveyed wanted penalty rates to increase or stay the same, attempting to brush aside valid concern in this way looks foolhardy to say the least.

Hogan appears to have realised this by 29 December and changed his tune when speaking to a Daily Examiner journalist: "I'm very cognisant that penalty rates are very important to many people who don't earn a lot of money….For a lot of people any extra benefit they get is very important to them. I'm yet to be sold there is an economic benefit in cutting penalty rates."

A statement that only the gullible would accept at face value, as his parliamentary voting record shows that he has never once voted against Abbott or Turnbull government legislation or spoken up strongly in the House of Representatives against their policies.

The Minister Agriculture and Water Resources, Barnaby Joyce, takes a different tack by saying that any changes to workplace laws including penalty rates would be taken to an election.  

With 70.7 percent of all those of all those surveyed and 56.9 per cent of those Nationals supporters surveyed wanting penalty rates to increase or stay the same, he will have to work hard to convince his own electorate that reducing these rates is not going to hit the New England economy hard.

Across rural New South Wales a partial abolition of penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors would result in workers losing between $118.9 million p.a. and $220.0 million p.a. with a  loss in disposable income of between $53.8 million p.a. and $106.2 million p.a. to local economies, according to research conducted by The McKell Institute.

Mr. Eleventy puts his foot in it again

The Guardian 2 March 2015:

Last Thursday, during Question Time, Joe Hockey was asked to “outline how the government is building jobs, growth and opportunity and how will this assist all Australians.” Bizarrely, he chose to respond by suggesting “there has been more good news today” in reference “average weekly earnings” despite Australians’ earnings growing by less now than they have for over 20 years.

In delivering the “good news” Hockey told parliament that “the average wage in Australia has now increased to $76,800 a year. It increased by 2.8% this year”. He noted that this meant the average wage for Australians “works out at $1,476.30 a week”.

Firstly, Hockey got a bit confused. The 2.8% growth referred to the original data, while the $1,476.30 referred to the trend data – which only grew by 2.7%. He was referring to full-time employment only, not the average earnings of all workers – that is just $1,128.90 a week.

But what is worse is the treasurer’s suggestion that these growth figures were in any way “good news”.

They were, in fact, terrible.

The 2.8% growth (or 2.7%, to use the trend data) was the second worst annual growth going back to 1994. And the worst result occurred in the 12 months to May 2014 which saw just 2.4% growth…

Of course even these corrected November 2014 figures hide the fact that while average weekly earnings for males (total earnings all industries) was $1,371.50 which represented a growth in males earning of est. $46 a year since November 2004, for females average weekly earnings (total earnings all industries) was the much lower $887.90 which represented a growth in female earning of less than est. $30 a year since November 2004.

In New South Wales in November 2014 total weekly cash earnings for males was $1,404.90 and for females $944.10, figures which are higher than every state except West Australia for that period.

See http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0 for more information.

Abbott to introduce serfdom to Australia

Little or no workplace protections, no social security safety net and a nebulous commitment to short term on-the-job training appear to be the order of the day for young men and women who join Abbott's Green Army.

The Sydney Morning Herald 1 March 2014:

A ''green army'' of 15,000 young people will be paid as little as half the minimum wage, as fresh details emerge of the federal government's plan to create Australia's largest environmental workforce.

The plans have attracted the ire of the ACTU, which says the workers will be excluded from protections granted by federal workplace laws and says the program threatens to reset youth wage rates sharply lower.

Under legislation introduced by Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday, green army participants - who will be aged 17 to 24 - will work up to 30 hours a week.

Young people who fill the green army's ranks will be paid about half the minimum wage, earning between $304.20 and $493.70 a week.....

Excerpt from A Bill for an Act to amend the law relating to social security, and for related purposes to be cited as Social Security Legislation Amendment (Green Army Programme) Act 2014:

38J Certain participants in Green Army Programme are not workers or employees under Commonwealth laws 

(1) A person: 

(a) who participates in the Green Army Programme on a full-time or a part-time basis and who is receiving green army allowance; or 

(b) who participates in the Green Army Programme on a part-time basis and who is not receiving green army allowance; 

is not taken to be: 

(c) a worker carrying out work in any capacity for the Commonwealth, or an employee of the Commonwealth, for the purposes of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011; or 

(d) an employee within the meaning of section 5 of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988; or 

(e) an employee for the purposes of the Fair Work Act 2009; 

merely because of that participation. 

Excerpt from the Explanatory Memoranda:

The Social Security Legislation (Green Army Programme) Amendment Bill 2014 amends the Social Security Act 1991 and the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to clarify social security arrangements for participants receiving the green army allowance paid under the Green Army Programme...

The Green Army is a key Coalition Government election commitment and will commence from July 2014. This voluntary initiative will recruit young people aged 17-24 years who are interested in protecting their local environment while gaining hands-on, practical skills, training and experience.

The Green Army will become Australia’s largest-ever environmental workforce, building to 15,000 participants by 2018, capable of delivering on-ground environmental projects...

The Programme will be delivered by an external Service Provider(s) who will be responsible for recruiting, establishing and managing Green Army Teams across Australia to engage in approved projects, alongside communities, to support local environment and heritage protection and restoration activities, consistent with regional, national and international priorities of the Government.

Participation in the Programme will be available to a diverse spectrum of young people, including Indigenous Australians, school leavers, gap year students, graduates and unemployed job seekers. Up to nine eligible participants and at least one Team Supervisor will constitute a Green Army Team. Participants will be eligible to receive a green army allowance while participating in the Programme, and will also have the opportunity to undertake training. The Service Provider(s) will be responsible for the disbursement of green army allowances and the provision of training. The Team Supervisor will be employed by the Service Provider and paid a wage.

Project proposals will be submitted to the Department of the Environment by individuals and organisations, such as local groups, councils and natural resource management bodies. A Green Army Project involves environmental and/or heritage activities that can be undertaken by a Green Army Team for 20-26 weeks.

The Programme will commence in 2014-15 with the rollout of 250 Green Army Projects and approximately 2,500 people undertaking on-the-ground environmental activities in the first financial year. By 30 June 2017, the Programme will have had 1,500 Green Army Projects and 15,000 placements undertaken. The Programme will scale up to 15,000 placements and 1,500 Projects per annum from 2018-19.

The Bill amends the Social Security Act 1991 and the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to specify that persons receiving a green army allowance under the Green Army Programme cannot also receive a social security benefit or social security pension and that a determination made in this regard may be backdated. The Bill does not impact entitlement to family assistance and child care payments which will remain payable to Green Army participants where eligible...

Unfortunately little of this information is reaching Northern Rivers readers of APN News & Media newspapers, as the two main mast heads are running what are essentially reworked versions of government media releases without any evaluation of their contents.

Equal pay is still a dream for most Australian women

The Sydney Morning Herald 3 September 2013:

The pay gap in favour of men has widened in two of Australia's most female-dominated industries.

The health care and social assistance sector has the biggest gender pay gap in the country even though women outnumber men by four to one. Full-time men in that sector are paid 32.3 per cent more on average than full-time women, up 1 percentage point in the past year. Two other sectors - finance and insurance and professional, scientific and technical services - also have an average pay gap in favour of men of more than 30 per cent.

In retail trade, where 56 per cent of the workers are women, the gender pay gap widened by 3.4 per cent in the past year, second to construction where the average gender pay discrepancy increased by 4.9 per cent.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency says the gender pay gap across all sectors of the Australian economy stands at 17.5 per cent. That's 2.6 percentage points higher than it was in 2004 and one percentage point higher than it was in 1995. The average full-time woman now earns $266.20 less each week than the average full-time working man, an annual difference of $13,842.....

Average super payments for women ($63,412) are 42 per cent less than men's ($109,609), the ACTU report says.

Today is Equal Pay Day in Australia

Australian Government:

ABS statistics released in August 2012 show that across Australia, women's average full-time weekly earnings are now 17.5% less than men's earnings

The Age September 2, 2012:

Equal Pay Day is today - the 64th day of the financial year. It is held on the day women catch up to men's earnings of the previous year. This year, it took women 64 days, while in the previous two years it was 63.

Women, Work & $$$$$ in NSW

From the Women in NSW 2012 report [NSW Family & Community Services, July 2012]:

Women in NSW are likely to live in cities, come from diverse cultural backgrounds and speak many languages.

Aboriginal women make up 2.1 percent of the female population of NSW, which in 2011 was 3.68 million women or 50.4 percent of the state’s population. In 2006, nearly two-thirds of NSW women lived in Sydney, with most of the remainder in regional areas and less than one percent in remote areas of the state.

Nearly a quarter of NSW women were born overseas, and one in five spoke a language other than English at home.

The median age of women in NSW in 2011 (38 years) is nearly two years older than that of men. Women are more likely to live longer than men; however, the gap is closing.

Women are far more likely to be at the head of a single parent household than are men. One in five families in NSW is headed by a single parent, and 88 percent of single parents are women.

Over a third of women over 65 years live alone. Women between the ages of 80 and 84 years are more than twice as likely as men to be living alone.

72% of girls in NSW completed year 12 in 2011 compared with 63% of boys.

In 2010, women made up 57 percent of NSW undergraduate students (117,382 in total). Men made up 43 percent (88,954) of undergraduate students. Some 28,400 more NSW women than men commenced an undergraduate higher education course in 2010, a 14 percentage point gap in women’s favour.

In 2011, the median starting salary for women aged less than 25 with a bachelor’s degree in their first full-time job was $50,000 per year, 7.4% ($4,000) less than men.

As at November 2011, NSW women working full-time ordinary hours each week earned on average $1,212, compared with men, who earned $1,404 each week.  

Men earned on average 14 percent more each week than women.

41,600 women in NSW commenced an apprenticeship or traineeship in the 12 months to September 2011, compared with 51,000 men.

22% of all apprenticeship and traineeship commencements in NSW are within traditional trades.

In the 12 months to September 2011, 13% of women (2,629) who commenced an apprenticeship or traineeship did so in a traditional trade. Fifty of those women commenced a construction trade compared to 5,140 men. Similarly, only 116 women commenced an Automotive and engineering trade compared to 5,259 men.

Click on images to enlarge

41 percent of employed women work part-time and 28 percent are engaged as casuals

In the private sector, as of April 2012, 17 percent of all NSW directorships were held by women (compared to 14 percent nationally).

Around 29 percent of board members are women within the not-for-profit sector; in the NSW public sector, 37 percent of board and committee members are women.

The professions of law and education are approaching a gender-balanced workforce, but women form a distinct minority in senior roles.

NSW women’s status and experiences are very similar to those of Australian women more widely.

NSW North Coast community workers closer to equal pay

Page community service workers closer to equal pay

Federal Member for Page, Janelle Saffin, said an estimated 2000 community service workers in the Northern Rivers are a step closer to achieving equal pay following the Australian Government’s announcement that it will provide $2 billion to help deliver any pay rises awarded to workers in the sector.

“These workers have incredibly challenging but personally rewarding jobs, caring for people with disabilities, counselling families in crisis, running homeless shelters and working with victims of domestic or sexual assault,” Ms Saffin said.  

“We all acknowledge the value of their roles, and it is time to pay more than lip service to this, and fund their work based on fairness.  In short, give these workers a fair go."

“This historic commitment from the Government will help 150,000 Australians, including 120,000 women; achieve the equal pay they deserve.”

Australia has undervalued workers in the social and community services sector-because their work has been viewed as women’s work and Fair Work Australia acknowledged the gender gap in the industry pay rates in part of its judgement handed down earlier this year.

“Plainly it is wrong that full time working women earn on average one fifth less than men.

“It was the Australian Labor Government that changed the Fair Work Act and broadened the equal pay provisions so that the Australian Services Union could mount the pay equity case. 

“As a long time advocate of equal pay for women and low paid workers, I have stood with local ASU members at equal pay rallies, and told them I was committed to both winning the pay equity and most importantly, winning the funds to flow for such. 

ASU State Secretary, Sally McManus thanked Janelle for her support.

“We’ve been fighting for this for years and we applaud the Government’s decision.

“Janelle has always been fighting on our side for this and she’s been part of making this happen and for that we are eternally grateful,” Ms McManus said.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced that the Government will submit a joint proposal with the Australian Services Union to Fair Work Australia which, if accepted, will fund the Federal Government’s share of wage increases for workers in the sector.

The Government will be encouraging major providers in the sector as well as other unions and state governments to join its submission.

Ms Saffin said if the Government’s submission is supported by FWA it will mean fair pay and thousands of dollars extra in the pay packets for community sector workers and their families.

“”The increases will vary across jobs and classifications, but are expected to be around 7 to 15 percent.

 “For example, a disability support worker at classification level two could receive an extra $7000 a year, or a level six youth outreach worker could receive an extra $18, 000,” Ms Saffin said.

“As the Prime Minister said, this is an  historic announcement  for social and community sector workers and something only a Labor Government will deliver.’

11 November 2011

Media contact:  Lee Duncan 0448 158 150

In the real world of gender inequality in Australia 2010

It would appear that in the real word of unequal wages based on gender in a country where women on average earn around 82-84 cents for every dollar earned by men (often when doing identical work) and its first female prime minister is ambivalent on the issue, it literally pays for women to collectively bargain in the workplace.

This week the Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations released its report AGREEMENT MAKING IN AUSTRALIA UNDER THE WORKPLACE RELATIONS ACT: 2007 TO 2009 which stated in part:

A total of 24 156 collective agreements were approved under the WR Act between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2009. This was a 14.7 per cent increase from the 21 057 collective agreements approved in the previous three year reporting period.

Twenty-nine per cent of employees had their pay set by a federally registered collective agreement during the reporting period. This was a slight increase from the 28.5 per cent of employees who had their pay set by a collective agreement during the previous reporting period.

Employees whose pay was set by a collective agreement earned, on average, more than those whose pay was set by an individual agreement.

The average hourly ordinary time earnings of non-managerial employees on federally registered collective agreements was $29.00 in August 2008, compared with $28.60 for employees whose pay was set by a federally registered individual agreement.

For female employees, the difference was slightly larger, with $27.10 under collective agreements compared with $26.00 under individual agreements.

At the same time the department also released TRENDS IN FEDERAL ENTERPRISE BARGAINING JUNE QUARTER, 2010.

• HISTORY – Equal pay for work of equal value and Equal Pay Day and Saffin MP November 2010 media release

Snapshot of GetUp! wage calculator

Public servants still doing better than other cogs in the Great Oz Wheel

If your fate is to be one of those anonymous grey workers wending a tired way to work five days out of every seven in one of the sprawling metropolises, then it really does pay to be a public servant according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics – around an average $127 more each week in fact or $130 in seasonally adjusted figures. Bet there are nicer bickies in the tearoom too!

Click on image to enlarge

In the middle of the federal election campaign all pollies got a pay rise

At the same time Oz pollies were inflicting an atrocious election campaign on a helpless national electorate they were quietly anticipating a backdated pay rise:
Remuneration Tribunal Statement - 2010 Review of Remuneration for Holders of Public Office (72kb) RTF (528kb)
Remuneration Tribunal Statement - 2010 Travelling Allowance Rates for Public Office Holders and Parliamentarians (32kb) RTF (376kb)
Members of Parliament - Travelling Allowance (96kb) RTF (976kb)

According to The Herald-Sun this means that the prime ministerial position is currently worth $14,000 more starting from 1 August.
No wonder Abbott is hot for the job - with his level of personal debt being prime minister would be a god send.

The public service is of course included in this pay rise and moola reports for the grand poobahs are found here:
Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Full-Time Public Office (120kb) RTF (1.15mb)
Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Part-Time Public Office (144kb) RTF (2.18kb)

Pollies and top public servants feel the pain (at least for another four months)

This week the Remuneration Tribunal announced it has deferred its annual pay review for federal politicians and government agency heads.
Before everyone goes "Oh, that's a shame!" remember that the Chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority - which is never happier than when it is censoring the Internet - is still comfortably off on an annual salary package of $408,560 ("Mr Christopher Chapman will receive a personal loading .... while he occupies the office") as well as getting Tier 1 travel.
Christopher Robin was until January 2006 a director of Babcock & Brown Investor Services Limited.
ACMA's Deputy Chair gets $296,260 and an Member gets $272,690, with the same travel allowance.
Of course they are not among the highest salaries paid from government coffers as the Chair of APRA comes in at a cool $603,130 each year, with a specified superannuation loading.