[T]he political class is “blithely yakking about ‘rising expectations,’ while millions of people’s hopes are plummeting at speed.” Now this is truly an example of division and special interests workers should pay attention to.
For those wondering about the possible effect of Workchoices in Australia, over on Dollars & Sense, Larry Peterson has a blog post on some recent labour conflicts and issues in France and Britain.
britains problems started by letting in foreign workers back in the 60 s (old commonwealth empire members), which turned into a flood of humanity in 80 s & 90 s , particularly fro eastern europe.dont think aus will have same problem,yet!
Workchoice argument highly over rated, come and see where the real work is done ,in the west, no problems here!!
workchoices realigns the labour contract so the worker is directly interfaced with the economy, for the good of the economy. Conditions that unions worked hard to introduce into workplaces, such as 8 hour day and penalty rates, inserts a buffer between the worker and the economy. That buffer reproduces the economic contract as a social and cultural contract. It means that workers are recognised as having lives beyond the workplace (8 hour day means time spent away from work) and penalty rates forces businesses to operate, and expect their works to work, under reasonable conditions.
workchoices is great if you want to maximise your relation to the economy because your labour is therefore valued according to the whims of capital. This has advantages and disadvantages. It is certainly advantage if you want to become an entrepreneur of your own self or of a small group of others (small business). What it doesn’t have is protection for a certain way of life that actually allows workers to live.
as the old saying goes, work to live, not live to work.