Wages have stagnated for four years in Australia despite continued economic growth and record jobs growth last year. The union movement’s language around enterprise bargaining has also hardened in recent months. Lyons told the Guardian that unions “absolutely” should be prepared to take industrial actions that are unlawful under the current enterprise bargaining system, such as walkouts. “If the formal system for getting a pay rise doesn’t work, we’re entitled to ignore it,” he said. The government, while conceding wages growth has been “modest” despite strong jobs figures, is campaigning for company tax cuts it argues will create wages growth in the long-term: so-called trickle-down economics.

Source: The Guardian March 11, 2018 01:41 UTC