If you were asked what is more important, the ability of the business sector to make profits, or the rights of workers to earn a liveable income, what would you answer?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In reflecting on this, we have to take into account a range of perspectives. First is the liberal political argument that if we support the business sector, the profits made in the sector will be used to create jobs for people.
Neoliberalism is linked with this thinking; the market should drive the economy; profit leads to improved employment, which then leads to higher spending and ongoing profit. In this way of thinking, there is nothing more important than the sustainability of business.
Unfortunately, research suggests that increasing business profitability does not result in increased employment opportunities, but this is a line of argument I might explore another day.
For now, I want to look at some of the consequences of this thinking and how this impacts on education and on Armidale. We see this thinking in the recent Fair Work Commission’s decision to abolish penalty rates.
Paying workers penalty rates causes problems for many small businesses who argued the costs of opening outside normal work hours were prohibitive. In making the decision in relation to penalty rates, the Fair Work Commission argued that customers expected services to be open over a wide range of hours. Such hours could no longer be considered unsocial or abnormal.
The impact of this decision is particularly negative on people on low incomes, and on students, many of whom work 16-20 hours a week. To receive the same amount of money, these student workers will need to work longer hours, impacting on the time available for study, and potentially increasing the time it will take them to achieve their qualification.
The ACTU warns that the same justification could be used to apply to other sectors where work is expected to be performed during what we had previously considered abnormal hours: work undertaken by nurses and those delivering health care, transport, security, and cleaning services and much more.
Included in this is academic work, particularly in universities where online teaching is offered, and where students (who often work during the day) are studying online at night.
This position is also evident in the ability of employers to terminate enterprise agreements through the Fair Work Commission. Last year, Griffin Coal was able to terminate their agreement based on the firm’s financial position, resulting in mine maintenance workers having their pay cut by 43 per cent.
Murdoch University management have an application before the Fair Work Commission to terminate their agreement. Should a similar action take place here, staff at UNE could face pay cuts ranging from $15,700 pa for HEO4 to $51,500 pa for Level D academics.
Imagine the impact of this cut in spending power on Armidale. Who benefits if we place the welfare of business ahead of the welfare of people? Do we all need to earn less and spend less in order to maintain business profitability (I wonder what pay cut the CEOs will take)?
