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05/05/20
10:15
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Originally posted by moorookamick:
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Since the 1980s, neo-Liberalism has: -privatised some of our major businesses (CBA, Telstra , Qantas etc ) which were wages leaders & trade union shops . The mix of Government owned and closed union businesses meant that households of employees of these businesses could live on one wage. -Neo-Liberal Governments have made trade union membership optional in most industries -Tradies who were the wage leaders within the Trade Union movement were encouraged to morph into independant contractors by the Howard Government (both for employee & employer tax benefits) and became classified as "small businesses" -457 skilled visas oversupplied skilled labour market and hindered wage break outs. -Big business outsourcing to the 3rd world put downward wage pressure on low skilled work -Automation & business engineering ensured that there was at least 5% unemployed to cap wage increases.. And what does this have to do with immigration you might ask? A lot, because most working class & middle class families need both parents to work to make family ends meet due to suppressed wages ( in the past our spikes in inflation has been caused by wage break outs but since Little Johnie as elected in 1997, all that changed thanks to Neo-Liberal policies . And this, folks is why we have have 1.7 births per Aussie female ; not replacement level and hence the need for immigration Add to that , the trend of women deferring childbearing in lieu of developing their careers and there you have it: In summary, the driving engine of natural population growth, the working class & the middle class, need two bread winners and smaller families to live comfortable because of the overwhelming downward wage pressure caused by Neo-Liberal economc policies . Despite Costello's baby bonus of $3K ( one for mum, one for dad & one for Australia) we still have a 1.7 births per Aussie female ! So all you anti-immigration advocates, do the hard yards under the blankets for the country and then you'll have a patriotic arguement for Australia PS: I forgot the SS marriage mob!
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it wasn't the howard government that encouraged tradies to morph into contractors, it was Keating with the PPS (prescribed payments system) tax system which started to work around 1992, howard got rid of as part of the GST and ANTS (a new tax system ) in 2000-2001. I know this as I was one who left the unions and went PPS at that time. why? my union pay was $320 pre week after tax, and when PPS I went to gross 1200 in my first week and never looked back. if your going to do physical work your working life will mostly likely be shorter than an office worker. so why would a sane person work for the low paying award? I was able to provide my family so much more the moment I went sub-contractor