SCOTT MORRISON’S SUSTAINED ATTACK ON WAGES GROWTH

On Insiders this morning, a naive and dishonest Scott Morrison pretended that workers can get a decent pay increase by just asking their bosses, when this Government’s policy focus is to take away workers’ bargaining capacity.

 

Scott Morrison said, “Now is obviously a good time with people coming off enterprise agreements to sit down and work out where things are heading over the next three, five years.”

 

The dwindling bargaining power of workers and their representatives, which the Government is facilitating, is a central part of subdued wages growth and rising inequality.  

 

The Treasurer knows workers can’t just ask for a pay rise when their bargaining capacity is being ripped away from them.

 

The policies of this Government are aimed at reducing workers bargaining power and further eroding Award wages and conditions through:

 

Encouraging the termination of Agreements onto Awards, which undermines wages and conditions;

Trying to destroy unions with stealth attacks on their legitimacy through one piece of legislation after another.

   

The Turnbull Government cannot seriously try to continue to deny the inequality which hardworking Australians are experiencing every day.  

 

They are presiding over an economy where wages growth remains at record lows, yet, they want to give a $65 billion tax cut to big business, while raising taxes for over 7 million workers and cutting the penalty rates of low paid workers.

 

Just how out of touch can this Government get?

  

Turnbull has no plan other than to continue his ideological attack on workers and their unions.

 

Under the Turnbull government we are headed to a low-wage, easy-to-hire, easy-to-fire society.