geoffreykelly I'm wondering how many Australian small businesses today, were founded upon the idea of a Workchoices style of Industrial System. How many small businesses intend (in their business plan) to pay their staff as little as humanly and legally possible as part of their success formula?.

It is an economic fact "that if a wage package does not at least include an annual increase built in at the rate of inflation" then the employee's living standard is eroding annually automatically. Wage Indexation should be, and was the standard in this country not so long ago. Keeps everybody honest and encourages appreciation, loyalty and co-operation between business operators and their staff. It is also anti inflationary.

If there has been an increase in small businesses that are dependant upon the principal of operating in the way described by pelican, then these businesses should adjust their business plan and be encouraged to seek the best staff instead of the least expensive to achieve their own goals.

As for Workchoices and caring geoffrey, there was bucketloads of people at the anti WC rally that I attended in Melbourne that cared enough and not just Unionists but whole lots of people.

The WC legislation was also illegal in terms of International Human and Civil Rights agreements that Australia was signatory to: and was doctrine that the Howard Govt had no mandate for, and had no real right to impose it upon it's citizens .

GK you should have ignored me.
Your frantic unstable post makes me proud to be opposed to you.
I have seen many like you come flame and go.
SOCIALIST?
Can you not understand as the list you drew up for me paddles your ship further right LABOR takes the ground you surrendered.
Are you aware, please Goggle him, of your party's founder, Sir Robert Menzies the one man Howard admired most?
Do you understand [please Goggle] he supported unions and workers rights.
That once your party was the voice of the middle class and those who wanted to become middle class.
Shout, scream , but have you no understanding?
Labor polls and all, has already won the next election, with great help from the dysfunctional people you proudly trot out As HERO'S.
WC is dead it divided this country stole wages and conditions and only a mug could think it was ok.

T2, there are many problems associated with the way wages are determined, for small business esspecially and, you could not be further from the truth in thinking that SB owners want to slash peoples wages at every chance, as, good workers are well worth looking after, problem is, unions don't like it when one person is paid more than another.

You see, people come to expect a pay rise even if the business made less profit than last year. Also, the currect system pays people for how long it takes to do a job, rather than how well they did the job, i.e. hourly rates.

Many workplaces keep pay rates secrete as they don't want the poorer workers to find out how much the better workers earn, otherwise the unions become involved and cry fowl.

WC gave many companies the chance to get rid of some 'dead wood' that was created from UFD laws. Another labor brainstorm.

And belly, I have asked that you refrain from referring to my late father, which of cause you can't resit, therefore I wish to have nothing more to do with you.

T2, I can't talk for all small business but I can talk for most. Most of us value our employees. I want my girls to be proud to work for me. It is good advertising. I want my girls to eat meat, wear nice clothes and have an edge on their friends. My girls like me, and our workplace is very happy. The last thing small business wants is a high turnover of staff, for reasons that are self-evident.
One of the most revealing things about the last "almost" recession was that we had not had one for twenty years. I am old enouh to remember recessions every 8 or 9 years since 1960 and Menzies credit squeeze. One of the reasons we did not have a recession in 1998/9 when the Asian economies melted down was that Costello and Howard protected us and it went unnoticed.
This time few managers under the age of 45 knew how to cope.
At the beginning of 2009, before the nadir of the depression, I called the girls to a staff meeting and asked them if they were nervous about their jobs. They all looked nervous and believed the axe was about to fall. I am 64 years of age and have seen many depressions and recessions and know how useful and good they are to the economy. I told the girls of the opportunities afforded by a good recession. I increased their wages by 5% just to let them know their jobs were safe. I had a ball in the recession and came out a lot better off. I bought ANZ shares for $12.00! Westpac for $18.00 and NAB for $17.00. I wish I had bought BHP at $20.00, but I spent all my money on other great buys and I am overweight on BHP! (continued in next post)
Geoffrey Kelley

(Continued ) Two of the six girls that work for me bought new houses (are building new houses) and are laughing all the way to the bank. All my girls get their 17.5% loading when they take holidays and for Christmas I predicted that the Boxing Day sales would be sensational and gave them all $500.00 bonus to be spent on Boxing Day. They bought shoes and girly things like make-up and had a ball at half price.
Don't talk to me about WC as it does not involve me. I am outside the system.
And I still love Abbott and Joyce and Minchin and Robb and Hockey and Pine because they stand for the values I applaud.
And, they tell the truth and don't need to lie!
Geoffrey Kelley

Dear Geoffrey,

Unfortunately, not every employer
however is like you - and that's why Work Choices had
to go! Take the tragedy and disaster of the
Beaconsfield Mining incident. That was not a freak
accident, but a result of the sacrificing of worker's
safety to corporate profits. There had been 144 deaths
in the mining industry in Australia prior to the
incident.

Howard's Work Choices removed workers right to strike
if they believed a work site to be unsafe. And
Beaconsfield was a disaster waiting to happen. Work Choices
took away from workers the right to complain - for fear
of losing their jobs. Anyway, don't take my word for it -
do your own research on Beaconsfield - and be horrifed
by what you learn. I was! A person's life - is not
worth corporate profits!

The same went for the New Industrial Relations Laws that
Howard's government put in place - and their repressive
crackdowns on the rights of workers/victims/families - to
campaign for compensation with incidents like the Hardie
asbestos cases. The new laws made it much more
difficult in the future for victims to lodge any claims
in the future - crippling fines, damages and
prosecution was the order of their day.

The voters had the good sense to throw out the Howard
Government in a landslide, including in his own Electorate.
Now you're advocating to elect Tony Abbott and his
frontbench - as leaders - that to me is to step back
in time.

Why on earth would anyone want to bring back the type of
Government that has a philosophy that's so difficult to
swallow and is certain to cause this country a good deal
of harm. Why would anyone with a bit of sense take any
of them seriously? Theirs is the politics of money and
power. It's the ideology of greed,
which leaves no room for social equity, compassion or
the idea of an egalitarian society.

I don't know how old you are - but you'd better be
concerned if these guys get into office.