Wages

  • Why isn't technology making our lives easier?

    Last month I read an article that first appeared in the Huffington Post titled "X Marks the Spot Where Inequality Took Root: Dig Here". It explains how real wages in the US shadowed growth in productivity in the years after World War II. But in the mid-1970s wages growth completely stalled. If wages had continued to shadow productivity growth they would now be double what they are today. This explains a lot about contemporary US society: all the gains of increased productivity have been absorbed by the rich.

  • eheadspace bosses stressing workers

    Nearly 70 staff at eheadspace — the national youth mental health service headspace's round-the-clock telephone and online counselling provider — were told they had just 24 hours to sign on to individual agreements that locked in year-long wage freezes, or they would lose their jobs. A dispute has been listed in the Fair Work Commission after headspace refused requests to extend the deadline. "For an iconic healthcare service, they don't treat their staff with any better respect than 7-Eleven or Grill'd," Health and Community Services Union organiser Serena Ho said.

  • 7-Eleven worker paid 47 cents an hour

    A Pakistani student, Sohail, was paid only 47 cents an hour to work at a 7-Eleven store in Sydney. He is one of 60 workers claiming back pay from 7-Eleven. When another worker, Pranay Alawala, complained about receiving only $12 an hour, his employer said they would tell immigration officials he had been working too many hours, which was in breach of his student visa. He received $33,000 in back pay.

  • Good News (for a change)

    FRANCE BANS GROCERS FROM THROWING OUT LEFTOVER FOOD French supermarkets will be and must instead donate it to charities or for animal feed, under a law passed unanimously by the French National Assembly to crack down on food waste.

  • Global solidarity for Cambodian garment workers campaign for living wage

    Activists demonstrated outside global big brand fashion outlets in the centre of Sydney's central shopping district on September 17 to demand that these companies pay the workers who make their products (in countries like Cambodia) living wages and respect their right to organise. Other solidarity actions in Australia were held in Canberra and Melbourne.