rehctub maybe your understanding of the subject is not as good as it could be, no offense meant but horses for courses Friend.
cw3, a wages classification structure exists in most jobs, a skills matrix.
CW3 is mid way up the ladder ,the most used step in construction.
Construction even under workchoices operated under EBAs enterprise Bargaining Agreements , almost every major construction firm , most international, offered to put one in place for 3 to 5 years before workchoices first impact.
Non wanted the first workchoices agreement around their neck.
Labour hire , casual worker suppliers did not sign EBAs they took to workchoices as a Friend.
Wages and work conditions fell through the floor.
The $550 dollars is true it represents the real difference for those hours worked.
Mostly it while reducing costs for labour fails, good workers move on ASAP and casuals stay only as long as they must.
Unions, good unions get jobs for casuals with the highest paying firms.
See the idea it is open war between unions and bosses is blind stupid, truth is good unions and good bosses have a lot in common.
workchoices? we had the debate it is dead todays leader of the conservatives has 7% support yet with out workchoices that leader may have been Prime Minister John Howard.

rehctub

Not all employers are like you though.

Your comment: "Why should low skilled workers, or lazy workers for that matter get paid award wages when there are heaps of options out there for them to better themselves."

Why should low skilled workers be penalised for doing work that most people don't want to do like cleaning, manual labour? We have to accept that we need people in these roles and just because they are low skilled does not mean they don't deserve a safety net like award wages. We should be encouraging people to work and an award wage ensures that people are not exploited just because they might lack and education, or are unable to 'better themselves' for various reasons (like family commitments) or they might like what they do despite the lack of pay.

A friend of mine who works for an NGO could earn a lot more in the public service but he loves his job and feels he is contributing more by working in this field. Not everyone has to be a go-getter some older people are downshifting because of work-life balance reasons.

WorkChoices also made it easier for unscrupulous employers to exploit foreign workers on 457 Visas.

Workers continue to be hurt by WorkChoices
Since the election thousands more Australian workers have continued to be hurt by WorkChoices. While the Coalition’s unfair laws remain in place there are still employers that are using them to cut workers’ pay and conditions, to dismiss people unfairly and to deny workers the right to bargain collectively. Many employers are still using WorkChoices to push workers onto unfair AWAs. One recent case
involves 170 workers at a well-known airport valet parking service who were sacked and then offered their jobs back on an AWA that cut their pay by up to $300 a week.This is an insult to the Australian
people who voted overwhelmingly to reject WorkChoices at last year’s election. New figures released by the Government confirm that hundreds of thousands of Australian workers lost pay and conditions under
WorkChoices AWAs: 70%lost shift work loadings, 68%lost annual leave loadings and 65%lost penalty rates.

True however we should understand why we live still with workchoices.
When the bill passed the lower house the conservative controlled senate sent it to committee, yes they say they will pass it.
But it must go to the committee first, time will pass before AWAs can no longer be signed.
I like to think I am not radical or extremist, such things repel me.
But consider this please.
For the last month a worker has asked me to get his 3 plus Weeks holiday pay, and last twelve months superannuation.
[It is far harder to retrieve unpaid super than you think]
His boss far from broke tells me his agreement said you had to work the full 12 months or no holiday pay?
He claims that passed the no disadvantage test? surely it could not?
He admits he owes super but says he will pay it when he is ready? tells me to my face he knows the tax office takes its time about acting and he will pay before they act!
Now I think time has come for both sides of politics to get this act passed to give us a level playing Field in IR restore the balance.
If we wait much longer unions must consider are radical actions the only way to be heard?
I truly hope not believe not but fair go mate must have a life in our IR laws.

ASymeonakis,
Thats a surprising comment coming from you Antonio. I thought you were wanting to bring more migrant into Australia.

Without people having their own agreements and or using the GATS your never going to acheive that.

You must realize not all people wanting to come to Australia wish to stay.
They have homes and familes back in their own countries and many times they are only wanting to come here because they are paid ten times pluss to what they earn back home.

With pressure from some unions it has totally bloked skilled workers coming in.

The 457 vias that were blocked totally to one particular group of workers ought to be a very good example as to why people should be able to choose.= to join a union or to enter into any agreement they wish
Not all people want someone else setting their wages for them'
many of us do far better on our own.

Either way it should be each persons right to choose.

Belly you may find that the worker you are referring to was not entitled to leave loading, which is the case if you leave your job without completing 12 months service. I seriously doubt there would be no holiday pay however if this is the case I would suggest they take this matter further as this gives all employers a bad name.

There has also been the mention of low paid unskilled workers. Did you know that in many cases cleaners and alike get paid better than some trades people. How is this fair?

You see what I feel should happen with borderline cases is that the employer pays say 85% of the wage and the gov tips in the rest. Of course the alternative would be that the low skilled go on the dole as is often the case.

Unfortunately there is no such thing as 'Fair Balance'

I have been an employer for almost 20 years which puts me before unfair dismissal laws.

Prior to these laws the employers did pretty much what they liked and the worker had to cop it on the chin until they found a better job. NOT FAIR, I agree.

Then we saw unfair dismissal. What a disaster. This then tipped the scale completely in the opp direction.

Now we have work choices which from the feed back has obviously tipped the scale back the other way although I must admit that it is only the bottom who suffer as well skilled workers don't put up with that crap.

My greatest fear in all this is that our mining companies turn their backs on us and the wheels fall off. Then we will have something to complain about.