Echoes of WorkChoices? The Coalition is keen to avoid any whiff of the failed policy, but some of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations have a strong flavour of it.
The Productivity Commission has recommended paring back Sunday penalty rates, more consideration to economic circumstances in setting minimum wages, and a new form of statutory employment contract.
Despite consistent but slight rises in the minimum wage, successive governments have dropped the ball on providing adequate support to low income working families.
Walmart’s promised wage hike will help half a million of its workers make a living, but it really just shows how much America’s working class struggles.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently commented that if employees “don’t want to work on a weekend, fair enough, don’t work on a weekend … But if you do want to work on a weekend — and lots of…
President Barack Obama, in his annual address to the country last week, stressed the importance of keeping “the dream of homeownership alive for future generations of Americans.” One of the main ways he…
A noxious combination of falling wages, income inequality at its highest since the 1920s and a growing low-wage sector has caused the ranks of the working poor to swell to more than 47 million. That’s…
A recent internet meme making the rounds on Facebook compares minimum wages and the prices of Big Macs in the United States and Australia. The minimum wage is more than double in Australia (US$16 per hour…
No company wants to be singled out for having “Victorian” work practices, as Sports Direct has been. Despite the poisonous reputation of zero hours contracts, employers continue to argue they need them…
In the UK, according to the Living Wage Foundation, some 1,000 firms have pledged to offer a living wage, including household names like RBS, ITV and SSE. Earlier this week the annual rate increase was…
The living wage won’t eradicate poverty in the UK. It may seem churlish to make the point as Living Wage Week draws to a close, but it’s a point well worth making. Don’t get me wrong, the living wage campaign…