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Women

Wages for women worse under Workchoices

By ABC radio

ABC radio is reporting today that a study has found that many women are worse off under the new federal industrial relations changes.

Queensland's Griffith Business School has analysed the first 10 months of WorkChoices and found overtime pay has been lost at double the rate of previous Australian workplace agreements.

The study also shows the WorkChoices legislation has performed badly on wages, conditions and productivity.

Griffith industrial relations professor David Peetz says women's conditions and pay sunk in the first six months of WorkChoices, especially in the private sector.

The professor says women's real wages fell by 2 per cent in the private sector despite a record profit share for businesses.

"Employment growth was a positive area, but there was no sign that any gains were a result of the new laws," he said.

"Trend employment growth of 2.4 per cent during the first 10 months was noticeably weaker than the 3.4 per cent growth after the unfair dismissal laws were introduced."

Professor Peetz says the retail and hospitality sectors are of greatest concern because penalty rates for night and weekend work can change under WorkChoices.

"In the two-quarters since WorkChoices took effect, hourly earnings growth rates in these industries have been barely half the rate elsewhere," he said.

"This probably reflects the loss of penalty rates and other conditions of employment, though the data to verify this is not published."

Professor Peetz says there has also been no sign of the promised boom in labour productivity.

"Productivity has fallen - so far there is no positive impact on productivity due to WorkChoices and there is a chance that the effect will be negative," he said.

"It's very early days to be telling yet but so far there is no sign of any positive impact."

He says real wages for full-time workers have fallen by more than 1 per cent in what is the tightest labour market for 30 years.

"Normally, real wages should be booming in such circumstances," he said.

"While falling petrol and fruit prices should soon bring some stability here, the data raised serious issues about what will happen when the economy slows down."

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/general/20070213_wages.html
Last Modified: 13 Feb 2007