General

Industrial Relations

American workers dream of decent wages

Three hard working low paid Americans are visiting Australia over the next two weeks to warn of the dangers of heading down the United States path to an economy based on jobs with low wages where working families struggle to afford housing, healthcare and basic living costs.

[ You can view a video of the US workers at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqUEIT6QBI
]
The three Americans - a cleaner, porter and a bus driver - will share their daily life experience of working in a deregulated, low-wage economy and surviving on low wages in the richest country in the world.

Australian unions are hosting the visit by the US workers as part of the grassroots community campaign against the Howard Government's unfair IR laws which is heading in to its final weeks leading up to the Federal election expected in October.

The United States workers will meet with church and community groups, local workers and unions in a whirlwind tour of Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Launceston and Sydney.

Iris Flores is a 36 year old full time bus driver from North Charleston, South Carolina who earns US$11 an hour and also works part time as a cleaner for US$8 an hour to make ends meet. Iris has three children & lives in a trailer home. She has no paid annual leave, no paid sick leave and cannot afford health insurance.

Allen White is 41 and works full time as a day porter/janitor for a building complex in Charleston, South Carolina for US$9 an hour. After tax and pension contributions, he takes home just US$220 a week, has no paid sick leave and despite being at the same firm for ten years, has only five days paid annual leave.

Dolores McCoy is a 74 year old cleaner from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who benefits from a union agreement that covers her workplace. She cleans 21 floors of an office five nights a week and earns US$13 an hour, has 4 weeks paid annual leave, ten days sick leave, health insurance and a pension fund.

Launching the workers' tour in Perth today, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"Australia is becoming more and more like the United States and these workers are here to tell us how hard it is to be a low paid worker in a rich country.

"But they also provide a warning that life could get a lot tougher for Australian working families.

"Our safety net of award wages and conditions is being undermined and individual contracts are becoming more widespread under the Howard Government's industrial relations laws.

"Many Australians are losing their entitlement to paid sick leave and annual leave by becoming casuals and wages and conditions such as penalty rates and overtime pay are being cut while at the same time salaries for well-off executives are skyrocketing and Australian company profits are at record levels.

"If the Liberals are re-elected it is likely the IR laws will become even less fair and the rights and entitlements that unions have fought for in the past will slowly but surely be eroded," said Ms Burrow.

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

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/general/20070730_usa.html
Last Modified: 30 Jul 2007