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Big Unions Misinform Their Members and The Australian Community
22 Oct 2018 | Archive
Big Unions are telling unionists to leave their jobs to attend rallies this week based on deliberate misinformation about how Australians work and the way the Australian industrial relations system operates, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said today.
“It is time for the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to come clean – their ‘Change the Rules’ campaign is based on a series of claims that simply do not stand up to scrutiny,” Australian Chamber CEO, James Pearson, said.
“Scratch the surface and the ACTU’s campaign is really about putting power into the hands of Big Unions, disempowering employees, and removing their choices.”
The Facts
1. WAGES GROWTH
ACTU Claim:
- “Thousands of workers will fill the streets…calling on the Federal Government to change the rules so working people have pay rises that keep up with the cost of living.” Source
- “The figures from the ABS show that… everything is getting more expensive and wages aren’t keeping up.” Source
THE FACTS:
2. MINIMUM WAGES
ACTU Claim:
- “The decline of our minimum wage is clear proof that the rules that once made Australian workplaces fair are broken.” Source
- “We need to change the rules, because Australia needs a pay rise.” Source
THE FACTS:
- The last minimum wage increase was 3.5% – 1.4% above the then rate of inflation (2.1%). Source
- Australia has the 2nd highest national minimum wage in the world (behind Luxembourg). Source
- Minimum wages have risen by more than prices consistently since 2010. See Annual Wage Review Decisions 2010 – 2018
- Minimum wages have increased by more than inflation in 15 of 19 decisions since 2000. See Annual Wage Review Decisions 2010 – 2018and prior to 2010
3. INEQUALITY
ACTU Claim:
- “Inequality is at a 70 year high” Source
- “Australia is at risk of becoming an Americanised society of working poor if people are not given a pay rise.” Source
THE FACTS:
- “Sustained growth has delivered significantly improved living standards for average Australians in every income decile.” Source
4. CASUALS, LABOUR HIRE AND CONTRACTING
ACTU Claim:
- “Fourty percent of working people are in insecure work – either in casual work, dependent on contracting, in labour hire, getting too few hours, or in the gig economy.” Source
- “One of the key things we want to change for working people is turning around or reversing the casualisation of jobs.” Source
THE FACTS:
- “Australian jobs aren’t becoming less secure.” Source
- “We have had… strong growth in casual employment during the past two decades of the 20th century and then nothing.” Source
- “There has not been a huge spike in workers forced out of their jobs involuntarily” and “the proportion that have been in their jobs for 12 months is … staying on trend.” Source
- “For all their visibility and controversy, gig economy platforms are not yet commanding a significant share of the labour market.” Source
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