Do you think costs of goods will come down appropiately when your 50% pay cut comes into effect.
The cost of Electricity is determined by the activities on the axs, and is not subject to cost cutting.
Get rid of the carbon tax and there will be no difference, in the cost of power. The carbon price is virtual money and does not exist.
No matter how much you want to cut wages we will never compete with 3 rd world wages, imports will continue to flood in.

Runner, your close to the action what does the average Sinday God Bod pull at the end of the week, down there at the temple? 5 grand an hour tax free?
Spot on Aussieboy, so many of these so called small business operators are nothing but shonky rip offs, recken' we all owe them a living. The tax rip offs, the ripping of their workers pay, rip off their customers wherever they can, rip off their suppliers by dodging their bills. Not all crooks are in jail, some are behind the counter!

LOOKS LIKE MY SEARCH WAS TOO REFINED..[all it got was lotsa jokes]

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=WAGE+Rate+priests,RABBI+HOLYMAN&

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=WAGE+Rate+priests

SO THEY Seem to get..20/35 per hour
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes212011.htm

OF COURSE THAT'S A FLAT RATE/INCLUDES THE no sex bonus
and has that extra weight/clause..that..if we deceive OTHER..
THAT LAYS STAINS..upON OUR SOUL..but if you want..i will work for half your 5000/offer..per hour..[what point were you trying to makE?]

FOR 100 DOLLARS PER HOUR 99.999.% WOULD SELL OUT bits of THEIR SOULS
ITS..just some value the bits..as more than adding UP TO..100%

Suze.....In what occupation/job are there 'obscene penalty rates'?

My industry, now while I will not tell you what it is, I can tell you the rates of pay are ridiculous and, should they be reduced I would fully understand as I have been in small business most of my life.

I am paid what is called an anulalised rate, because I work an on/off roster, working only six months of the year and making a motza. The down side is that if I am rostered on Xmas day, so be it.

My view on penalty rates is that they should be industry based and fir the likes of retail and hospitality, Saturdays should be normal time, Sundays time and a half and public holidays double, with the exception of good Friday and Xmas day.

I say this because the consumer is the one who wants these enterprises open seven days.

It is typical of governments to change one portion of an industry, while leaving others unchanged, and I take 7 day trading in QLD as an example.

Peter Beaty, despite having commissioned an enquiry into this, decided he didn't like the outcome and introduced 7 day trading without addressing important sections of awards such as altering the normal work periods and penalty rates.

Dear rehctub
I will put money on the table last financial year was 51k that is a rostered 48 hour week rotating shifts and i worked all public holidays and also did a lot of extra shifts and i do receive penalty rates.
Im not crying about it this is what real workers get paid , I hear of wages of 150k-200k this is rich people and if you don t think so try living on 35k because alot of Australians Do. So please any talk of cutting wages /wage restraint i.e. needs to be focused to the greedy boy's you know the one's complaining about welfare and penalty rates

Aussieboy, what ever wage rates are, the most important issue, even more important than living standards, is that the wages paid are sustainable to the industry/employer, otherwise anything else is irrelevant.

We are now facing an era unseen by the likes of you and I, as many of our businesses are now at a point where the costs associated with doing business here is unsustainable and wages are one of those costs. The amount one needs to live on is irrelevant in my view.

If we don't address this issue we will simply have no jobs, because although we've had a good run, the boom times are over, so we must choose to either adjust to a lower wage, or go without jobs.

Now as for penalty rates, there are several options, including time off mid week in lue and this is ome area that's need real consideration.

I am sure there are many out there who would prefer to do two ten hour days on the weekend and one eight hour day mid week, in return for a full weeks pay.

Who has the right to interfere in an arrangement like that when both parties are agreeable?

The unions stance at the moment is for no jobs, simply because they will not accept that what goes up,must also be allowed to come down.