My take on all this is that we are in danger of becoming like the US where the working poor are legion. These are people, largely unskilled who are exploited by the fact there is noone to represent them. Hence the two tiered system in the US where the professional person is fairly well paid but the shop assistants, burger flippers etc can't earn enough to live on properly.
I worked in the US for a number of years and saw how unionism was supressed to the point where workers were even afraid to mention the word union while at work.
Many on this site denigrate unions and to be sure, just as in many other organisations there are abuses of power however the majority in this country owe their current good employment conditions to the work of one of the unions.
My fear is that the Howard govt with its proposed IR changes is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
