PM John Howard’s proposed industrial relations “reforms” include changing the way minimum wages are set to keep them low.

• The government wants to replace the Australian Industrial Relation Commission’s role in setting the minimum wage with a new body appointed by the government (composed of people who the government trusts will ensure wages stay low).

• The minimum wage is currently $484 a week ($12.75 per hour); if Howard gets his way, minimum wage workers will be at least $50 a week ($2,600 a year) worse off.

• The Howard government has opposed every minimum wage increase since 1996.

• When asked to guarantee that minimum wages won’t be lower under a new system, the federal IR minister, Kevin Andrews, told ABC radio on April 12: “I am not in the business of giving guarantees for or against anything.”

• The government’s proposal is similar to the US model, where the minimum wage is just US$5.15 an hour and hasn’t increased for eight years, leaving many working families living below the poverty line.

[Source: <http://www.actu.asn.au/work_rights>.]

From Green Left Weekly, July 27, 2005.
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