The ACTU’s National Week of Action has got off to a shaky start, with ACTU President Sharan Burrow making the bizarre claim that a real wage decrease is somehow good for Australia.
The only time in recent history where real wages have fallen was under the Hawke Labor Government, union-negotiated Accord.
When confronted with this inconvenient truth on radio in Adelaide earlier today, Sharan Burrow made the following extraordinary claim:
“…during the Hawke Government period real wages went down, they went down because working people actually worked for their country.” (Burrow, interview with Leon Byner, 5AA, 26/6/06)
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Ms. Burrow claimed wage cuts were necessary to restructure the Australian economy and to fund health, education and superannuation.
Ms. Burrow should study recent history more closely.
Under the Howard Government, health and education are both receiving record levels of funding, taxes have been cut, productivity is up and the budget is in surplus. All this has been achieved in a period where the real wages of Australian workers have increased by 16.8%.
Sharan Burrow’s view that real wage increases and economic efficiency are mutually exclusive should be of concern to every working Australian. It clearly demonstrates the sort of inane economic thinking that would inform the policy approach of a Beazley Government.
The ACTU’s campaign against the Government is long on rhetoric and short on fact.
Sharan Burrow has today demonstrated why Kim Beazley and the unions pose such a threat to the prosperity of all Australians.
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