Hedgehog....mate..
I don't begrudge my son a good rate... I'm overjoyed for his sake, but given SILCRAFT... my pessemism(realism) about 'overseas outsourcing' is quite well founded.

SHONGA
your response is appreciated. I feel for you mate, $350 a week totally sucks. Why so low ? thats a rate of around $9.20/hr is that your take home pay or gross ?
Why do you stay at that place ? Do you have access to public transport ? I can guarantee, on the Eastern Melbourne Suburbs, $15.50 is just about the lowest. Where are u ?

Do you smoke ? Drink ? if you do, turf them mate.. a total waste, and immediate income boost. Do you have a Lawn mower ? If u do, then zip out to new factory areas, do a letter box drop offering to mow their lawns, you could get 2 or 3 factories, fill in a Saturday at more like $25-30/hour. Then, contract cleaning.. also good money ask some factories.. knock on doors mate... Minimum outlay. Can/does your wife work ? Look around for 'work from home' stuff. My wife used to do that, wound 9000 little coils by hand for NEC $0.14C each.

Because you mentioned a bible verse, (camel/eye of needle) I want to share one with you also if I may:

Hebrews 10
<<22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, ....23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. .... but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.>>

Emphasis on verse 24 Stir one another up to good deeds... and to good work opportunities :) which is what I've tried to do.

Please don't be 'bitter' that will eat away at you. Turn that emotion around, and make it passion and drive to forge ahead by yourself, on your own terms as much as possible. It doesn't happen overnight, but it does happen.

David_boaz: For you especially, I'll refer to my other post...

>>The country as a whole is failing to see the more sinister reasons for the changes. They are...

1. If the Liberals can weaken the unions to the point where they are almost non-existant, then the ALP will lose most of it's funding, particularly at election time and we are then likely to become a one party country with no real alternative. We can then kiss our democracy good-bye and say hello to facism.

2. It's the perfect opportunity for Howard to hit the working class where it hurts. Something he has wanted to do for a long time to a demographic that he has nothing but utter contempt for. He has even been known to say "Give 'em f---ing nothing" when referring to the working class while drinking wine with friends and cronies at Kiribilli house.<<

But if we're going to bring religion into this then...

Didn't Jesus preach that we should look after the less fortunate?

After seeing what Christians such as Howard, the entire Bush administration and the evil, war mongering Christian Right in America are capable of, I seriously question the Christian beliefs I was so strictly brought up with. Christianity now seems to be synonymous with wealth and greed as you have demonstrated in your posts (along with the "Christians" listed above).

Yes there is need for reform but what this sick government has proposed is cruel and extreme.

But then again, if this country is willing to give a right-wing government an overwhelming majority in parliment, then the lower classes have to expect to lose their rights and lower their standard of living.

It's like the saying goes: "Counties get the government they deserve"; and saying: "But this isn't what we voted for" isn't an excuse either. We had had 8 years to learn what a pathological liar this cruel and heartless crook of a Prime Minister was before we voted him back in, but no - everyone had to stick with the evil they knew and now the least-fortunate-in-life will pay for it.

Unfortunately, the new wage fixing authority will in all probability use divine guidance, rather than the CPI to determine the rate of increase of minimum wages in the future. Given the fact that declining residential property sales are a key indicator that recession could be imminent, this poses some serious problems.

I do realise that a lot of people think that a decline in the Sydney market, will only affect those directly connected to the Sydney market, however given the fact that almost half of the sales in my local, non-Sydney, non-declining market, were by investors from Sydney, I suggest that any serious decline in that market will affect the whole of Australia.

Coupled with this is the almost exponential rise in the pump price of petroleum products. It has been suggested that this will have a neglible affect on consumer spending and inflation. This appears to be contradicted by the latest data, and also data from the 1970's oil embargo, which led to double digit inflation in the 70's.

I therefore suggest that we are at serious risk of entering a recession in the foreseeable future, however for the first time we are doing it with a totally unproven, religiously inspired wage setting body. This does not exactly present the competent, confident, professional formula that one expects in such a body. Perhaps Cardinal Pell will be interested in assuming governance fo the Reserve Bank.

Each of us has taken a different path in life and my bank balance has only changed as a result of wages my hands time and personal efforts gave me.
Unions have always been part of that and my membership was always a thing I was happy with.
The last thing I ever thought would happen is that an Australian goverment would wish to distroy that movement.
Yes some slugs exist in the union movement, some are non performers and should go.
Some used standover tactics that shamed the movement and focused Howards rath on us all.
And some even helped Howard win the power to slash and burn the work of past generations who built the union movement.
I am poorly educated and claim no great inner knowledge others do not have, but unionism will not die!, this is the real chance to grow.
Slugs will fall from the tree a new vital understanding unionism will be there after the conservatives are again a minority.
I admite I have the honour to be a union official, and it is an honour.
Those who can not command the trust and respect of both members they serve and most bosses they work with let the movement down.
This reform will change goverment in Australia and mark Howard down in history as a man who miss used his majority.

Thanks to Des Griffin for summarising the concerns that many of us feel about this ideologically-driven legislative adventure being foisted upon us all by the government that this electorate deserves.

I'm not sure whether this belongs in this thread or one of the others on this topic, but in all the commentary and analysis on the IR legislation, I haven't yet seen raised what seems to me to be a critical flaw in the Howard government's efforts to reduce wages and conditions and job security. Now I'm not an economist's bootlace, but as a small business owner I understand that a major component in Australia's economic performance in the past decade or so has been the massive extension of credit to consumers in the retail and housing sectors. While various pundits occasionally raise concerns about the burgeoning levels of personal debt, there is little doubt that easy access to credit cards and mortgages has been driving demand in the retail sector and housing market.

A prerequisite for the extension of credit and mortgage loans to individuals is stability and security of employment, and the financial ability to service debts. Surely these IR reforms can only reduce the ability of most workers to meet these criteria, with the inevitable result that the economy will move into recession?

Quite right Mahatma Duck!

You can only get a low-doc mortgage when you are working on contract.
See Aaron's post that mentions house sales in his local area.

About employment contracts, I have worked in an industry when people working on contract is the norm. There are stories of good contractors rolling from contract to contract, but if you watch contractor behaviour carefully you realise that many of them spend months between contracts. This can be discerned by their eagerness for more hours - if paid an hourly rate, the phone calls to organise tradesmen for home improvements and their timeless conservative dress.

In my experience of being on contracts for 15+ years there is a great deal of insecurity and this isn't good for health as I broke out in psoraisis annually at contract renewal time, family life was disrupted at Christmas as you wait for contract renewal and the thought of having children in that insecurity is unthinkable.

I have taken out 2 mortgages on property when I have been in permanent positions.