wages

The Guardian • wages

Issue #1971

How Harvey Norman buys the press

Open a copy of the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, or almost any other Nine-Fairfax newspaper, and you will see pages of advertisements for furniture retailer Harvey Norman.

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Issue #2021

Public sector alliance rally – WA

In Western Australia there has been a campaign of industrial activity over the past six weeks by more than ten trade unions who make up...

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Issue #1999

UWU welcomes Vic govt sick pay guarantee

This morning’s launch of the Sick Pay Guarantee scheme in Victoria has been warmly welcomed by the United Workers’ Union (UWU). The scheme which guarantees...

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Issue #2042

GLOBAL BRIEFS

GERMANY: Air traffic came to a virtual standstill on the 17th  February with around 2340 flights cancelled. The strike affected almost 300,000 passengers. Germany’s flag...

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Issue #2003

Amazon Labor Union bolsters against Bezos backlash

US Amazon workers and union organisers are hard at work on and off the clock fighting back against the multi-billion-dollar transnational corporation. Earlier this April,...

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Issue #2022

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic: socialist construction 1921-1941

This is part two of a series on the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was a founding republic of the Soviet Union (founded in 1922)....

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Issue #2005

New initiatives to address national care crisis a massive win for women workers

The union for aged care workers, early childhood educators and disability support workers has welcomed today’s announcement that an Albanese Labor government would deliver ground-breaking...

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Weasel Words heading Issue #2035

WEASEL WORDS

TAX tæks/ We all know what a tax is, don’t we? The government needs money, so they take a slice of your salary, or maybe...

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Issue #2021

DINGO

All the contradictions. The official unemployment figure is 3.4 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Workers were told that once unemployment...

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Issue #2020

RTBU’S “rolling” actions highlight broken bargaining system

Workers at Sydney Trains and NSW Trains are taking industrial action throughout August over the Government’s refusal to negotiate in good faith. Health and safety,...

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Issue #2035

The problems of privatisation and why publicly-owned services matter

The ACTU does a good job of explaining issues to the converted. However, they should use some excellent scientific studies to inform the public of...

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Issue #1999

TWU wins enforceable rates for couriers & Amazon flex drivers in landmark decision

The Transport Workers’ Union has won a landmark determination that means couriers will receive significant improvements to their enforceable rates of pay – including world-first...

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Issue #2000

Sick Pay Guarantee a step in the right direction

The Victorian government has recently launched a Sick Pay Guarantee pilot program for casual workers. Under the scheme, casuals and contract workers in certain industries...

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Issue #1978

From the Accord to the IR Omnibus Bill

Over the past forty years, since the implementation of the Accord agreement between the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Australian Labor Party (ALP), wages and salaries have not progressed.

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Issue #1982

Nurses and midwives deserve better working conditions

Two weeks ago, a petition with over 50,000 signatures called for Australia’s nurses and midwives to receive a COVID disaster payment for their work during...

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Issue #2001

Wages going backwards

Back in 2019, the then-federal finance minister Mathias Cormann admitted that low wage growth was part of the government’s economic architecture. Combined with their ideological...

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Issue #2016

Leaked files reveal the extent of Uber’s aggressive government influence

Documents, text messages and emails leaked from ridesharing giant Uber have revealed the extent of the company’s influence on politicians, journalists and corporate executives. In...

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Issue #1990

Public Sector Alliance action

Earlier this year, six unions – CPSU/CSA, SSTUWA, UWU, RTBU, and HSU – allied to form the Public Sector Alliance (PSA).

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Issue #2026

Workers in unions prevent Apple employees being squeezed for excessive hours and low pay

The workers that bring you the “Genius bar” at Apple have made a clever move: they’ve joined their union. Apple tried to rush though a...

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Issue #2020

DINGO

Banks and insurance companies raked in billions according to financial year end of interim results, with CEO pay increasing by tens of millions of dollars....

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Issue #2036

New year’s greeting from the president

It feels like only a few months have passed since I wrote a season’s greeting for 2022. It was the year our 14th Congress, delayed...

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Issue #2010

Striking aged care workers take on Southern Cross Care SA

Striking aged care workers are taking their fight direct to Southern Cross Care headquarters in inner suburban Adelaide today, the latest in a series of...

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Issue #2018

DINGO

On the back of a decade of campaigning by unions for ten days paid family and domestic violence leave, the Albanese Government has introduced legislation...

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Issue #1995

Pay rises, job security, and a fair outcome for wharfies secured at Patrick Terminals

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is pleased to advise that at the 11th hour, an in-principle agreement with Patrick Terminals’ management has been struck...

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Issue #1996

Unions join to give voice on job casualisation and COVID-19

It was great to see so many people joining together to listen and give voice to the major problems of casualisation and the pandemic that...

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Issue #2007

Back the call for a 5.5 per cent wage increase

Earlier this month, amid predictable outcry from the Coalition, Anthony Albanese voiced his support for a 5.1 per cent increase in wages, to keep pace...

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Issue #1997

On the formation of the CPA Logistics and Manufacturing Branch

The Communist Party of Australia Logistics and Manufacturing Branch is proud to announce its formation. We are an industry-based branch of the Communist Party of...

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Issue #1970

Wage theft laws come into effect in Victoria

Last year, the Victorian parliament passed a law making wage theft a crime. On the 1st of July this year, that law came into effect.

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Issue #2022

Amazon free one-day delivery built on extreme exploitation

Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has announced plans to roll out free one-day delivery for hundreds of thousands of products in Melbourne and Sydney...

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Issue #1977

The fight continues

Fifty-five years ago, on 23rd August, 1966, about 200 stockmen and their families walked off the Wave Hill cattle station, owned by British Lord Vestey, in protest at the appalling wages and conditions they were forced to endure.

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Issue #2013

DINGO

The federal Treasurer delivered an address to Treasury staff last week, informing them that the government would oppose wage claims and use available legislation to...

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Issue #1983

Fremantle council workers win

The recent attention to trade union activity is unsurprising; victories of the unions bring admiration for workers but worry the capitalist elites.

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Issue #1988

Unionists protest as Better Read Than Dead management renege on deal

Workers at Better Read Than Dead have recommenced industrial action after management reneged on an in principle deal reached in July this year.

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Issue #2024

Multi-employer bargaining key to improving working conditions: ACOSS and ACTU

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has joined with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to call on the Albanese government to implement...

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Issue #2003

May Day 2022: WORKERS DEMAND CHANGE!

Australian and international workers’ struggle is taking the demand for change to the ruling class who always put the weight of any crisis back onto...

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Issue #1991

Year in review

2021 has been a year that has intensified the elements of the class struggle we have been experiencing since the pandemic arrived in Australia in 2020.

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Issue #2020

ACTU pushes for radical reforms ahead of jobs summit

The federal government is holding a Jobs and Skills Summit in early September this year to address the “shared economic challenges” faced by Australians. The...

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Issue #2032

A peace & peoples’ budget

Annual budgets are a mirror held up to the class divide. The income and expenditure sides of the budget come down to priorities. The budget...

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Issue #1997

Why the WA newspapers fight matters to all of us

In our democracy, we value the principle of one person, one vote. We would be outraged if the richer you are the more votes you...

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Issue #2036

Build the fightback

Decades of privatisations, job cuts and wage suppression and more recently the cuts masked by measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, have taken a huge...

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Issue #2001

Aged care workers yet to receive their bonus payment

A survey of 1000 aged care workers conducted by the United Workers’ Union (UWU) has revealed that ninety-seven per cent of aged care workers are...

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Issue #2023

DINGO

In July, the second asylum boat turn-back to Sri Lanka under the Albanese Labor government highlighted the fundamental breach of human rights involved in such...

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Issue #2003

CPA members support workers robbed by Probuild and Frasers Property

Members of the Communist Party of Australia in Sydney attended a multi-day picket held by CFMEU workers demanding the wages they’re owed by Probuild and...

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Issue #2045

International Unemployment Day

6th March marks International Unemployment Day. Unemployed workers have for centuries borne the scars of class war. Since the rise of capitalism in the 16th...

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Issue #1995

Socialism and capitalism: a tale of two approaches to enforcing environmental laws

It is no secret that in some societies, certain harmful activities go unpunished. For example, in the framework of a capitalist society, white-collar crimes are...

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Issue #1958

JobKeeper used to profit the corporations, not help people

The purpose of JobKeeper should have been to help keep the working class employed during a once-in-a-century pandemic that devastated the global economy. However ...

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Issue #2022

(Un)equal pay day: Melbourne

On Monday the 29th August, working women took to the streets of Melbourne to raise awareness and protest against the rising gender pay gap. The...

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Issue #2010

DINGO

On 3rd June 1992 the High Court of Australia recognised that a group of Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, held ownership of Mer...

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Issue #1977

Truckies in fight of their lives

Seven thousand Toll drivers are in a battle to save their jobs and working conditions.

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Issue #2023

Class collaboration won’t deliver for workers

Practice, time and time again, has shown class collaboration doesn’t deliver for workers. Efforts by social democracy to water down class struggle through the introduction...

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Issue #2018

ABCC stripped to bare minimum

The moves to abolish the anti-worker Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC) are underway. Last month, the Albanese government reduced the powers of the ABCC “to...

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Issue #2024

Remove Alan Joyce

Throughout the pandemic Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has consistently proven himself to be the walking embodiment of corporate greed. Alan Joyce took in $5,575,000 –...

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Issue #2030

RAFFWU members strike at Apple

Members of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) went on strike in the first nationally co-ordinated industrial action in retail in Australian history....

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Issue #2034

Pampas workers reject crumby deal

More than fifty pastry and pie makers at Pampas in Melbourne commenced an indefinite stop work on Monday last week in a fight for job...

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Issue #2049

DINGO

The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report into mesothelioma was released today. Mesothelioma is an aggressive form of cancer in the mesothelium –...

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Issue #2024

“Put children before profit”

Tens of thousands of early childhood educators walked off the job across the country to take part in rallies and marches on 7th September. More...

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Issue #1987

A win for farmworkers as FWC rules on minimum wage

Workers and union organisers with the United Workers Union (UWU) and the Australian Workers Union (AWU) are celebrating a massive win ...

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Issue #2003

May Day – Demand real change

Without strong, militant unions workers are powerless. The trade union movement has been targeted by successive governments to the point where industrial action is outlawed...

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Issue #1963

Demand secure well-paid jobs & full employment

Workers need a substantial wage rise now to meet day-to-day necessities.

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Issue #2010

Public sector workers walk off on Perrottet “proposal”

Tens of thousands of public servants walked off the job in a strike defying the Premier’s inaction, posturing, and insulting behaviour. The Public Service Association...

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Issue #2001

Budget alternative: For peace and genuine security

As the cost of living soars the number of working poor is on the rise and more and more families are turning to charities for...

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Issue #2012

Workers win historic wage increase in Annual Wage Review

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has struck a strong middle ground with a 5.2 per cent wage hike announced on 15th June. The minimum wage...

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Issue #2023

Nurses strike for better pay and conditions

Earlier this month, Nurses and midwives across NSW went on strike for 24 hours, while maintaining life-preserving care. The demands are simple: The NSW Nurses...

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Issue #2015

The devil in the details of the “housing crisis”

In part one, we revealed that approximately one-fifth of households surveyed by the 2021 Census own nearly fifty per cent of the total amount of...

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Issue #2006

VOTE THEM OUT

The Coalition Morrison government has got to go. On Saturday 21st May vote them out! The Communist Party of Australia rejects the undemocratic electoral system...

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Issue #1968

Wage raise a good start but not enough!

Last month, the Fair Work Commission increased the minimum wage by 2.5 per cent – raising it to $20.33 an hour.

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Issue #2023

Jobs and Skills Summit: dangerous illusions for workers

Workers and their families are looking for real change – real wage rises, secure jobs, safe working conditions, with adequately funded and staffed health and...

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Issue #2041

Mass protest to defend UK workers’ right to strike

Up to half a million British teachers, civil servants, and train drivers walked out over pay in the largest coordinated strike action for a decade...

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Issue #2002

Budget 2022-23 – CLASS WAR

The budget announced by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is a pre-election, last ditch, vote-buying exercise from the Morrison government. Voters struggling with rising prices and falling...

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Issue #2043

DINGO

New research from Australia Institute economist Dr Jim Stanford has confirmed that excessive corporate profits are the main driver of inflation, not wages. The research...

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Issue #2004

Boot the Coalition out!

The Coalition government has comprehensive plans to destroy militant trade unions and give employers arbitrary powers and unfettered rights over workers in the workplace. The...

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Issue #2010

Energy prices explode: capitalism in crisis

Consumers face soaring energy costs as Australia’s gas and thermal coal exporters rake in windfall profits. The incoming Labor government has inherited the legacy of...

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Issue #2051

GLOBAL BRIEFS

SUDAN: Doctors Central Committee has reported that the number of people killed in clashes between the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rose...

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Issue #2041

Make wage theft a crime

Last year Monash University launched an extraordinary bid to avoid repaying millions of dollars in wages allegedly owed to sessional and casual staff. The University...

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Issue #2043

Gender pay gap

While figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showing that Australia’s gender pay gap is narrowing, women still receive, on average, $472 per...

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Issue #2047

DINGO

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) members at the ABC have secured big wins after reaching agreement with management for their new EBA. The deal...

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Issue #2019

Promising: Workplace reforms on the horizon

In an honest assessment, the Albanese government has come out the gate with a series of important industrial reforms: an increased minimum wage, paid family,...

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Issue #2045

Attack on aged care workers’ pay

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF ) (Victorian Branch) has lodged bargaining disputes in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) against eight private aged care...

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Issue #2043

Employers threaten to withhold aged care wages

The country’s largest union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), has raised concerns that some aged care providers are trying to short-change underpaid nurses...

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Issue #2049

MAY DAY

The international working class continues to commemorate the struggles and gains achieved over 134 years since the first May Day commemoration in 1889 which remembered...

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Coles in Chadstone Shopping Centre. Issue #2050

Coles bargaining 2023: Not down down

RAFFWU, the Retail And Fast Food Workers Union is bargaining for members at Coles.  Workers at Australia’s second-biggest supermarket chain can sign up to have...

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Issue #2040

Early Childhood Educators – RAISE OUR WAGE!

Early Childhood Educators are demanding a 25 per cent wage rise to address a sector-wide worker crisis that is forcing centres to cut back and...

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Outside of the Reserve Bank of Australia, a solitary man sits. Issue #2053

The facts about wage rises and inflation

There has been no shortage of news headlines, big business and government warnings that a wages breakout will cause inflation: “Teachers’ rise a risk to...

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Issue #2050

May Day 2023: What do we march for?

1889 is a long way behind us, and the first May Day commemoration honouring the workers killed and wounded in the Haymarket confrontation in Chicago...

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Issue #2043

“Wage-price spiral” myth

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe expressed concern that workers would get much higher pay rises in response to inflation, which he claims...

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Issue #2050

Fight back!

May Day is just eight days away from the federal budget. All we hear from Treasurer Jim Chalmers are attempts to soften up the electorate...

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Firefighters rally for wage justice Issue #2055

Firefighters rally for wage justice

On Thursday 25th May, several hundred members of the United Firefighters Union of WA and their supporters, principally from other trade unions, marched from the...

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