It is an area I believe Paul where the Greens or other minor parities have the opportunity to harvest votes.

If an employee believes they are being underpaid, and assuming they know about the Fair Work Ombudsman (which should be taught in High School) they can file a complaint after attempting to resolve the matter with their employer.

Straight away at this point I would say that they shouldn't have to attempt to resolve matters with their employer at all, as this may expose them to attack.

Then, if the Ombudsman accepts their complaint, the Ombudsman should not have to disclose the name of the employee, as again, this exposes the employee to attack (e.g. dismissal or a cut in hours, bullying or some other form of prejudice)

Of course, if the employee were to be sacked or similar there are remedies at the hands of another department (not the Ombudsman) but by the time they have all finished fiddling with their pencils, the damage is usually done.

Thus, a small tweak to the Ombudsman service in the form of them not being required to disclose the complaining employee's details would do the trick, along with the power to severely sanction unlawful conduct by employers.

(and I note that often if they are underpaying one employee then they are usually underpaying them all)

Unfortunately, the alp has never sort to remedy this as they want people to join the unions. As for the coalition, they seek to preserve the undeserved position of the wig parasites and regrettably, the workers in between miss out.

THAT is why we need a serious 3rd force in politics.

So doog, if we double the pays for strawberry pickets, and consumers won't pay the inflated price for strawberries, what then?

As for 457 workers, I agree, but many of the 6.5% unemployed won't work, or, they won't work for min wages, or, they won't take on a job, like seasonal work, for fear of not be able to return to the dole life. It's fact.

Sorry rechtub But it is a fact in your mind, if unemployment was 20% you would have the same perception of human beings.

Times move on , if strawberry’s can’t be mechanically harvested you are whipping a dead horse. Be realistic, if you need slave labour to sustain an outdated enterprise it’s time to give the game away.

Picking strawberries was big business in 1950, but now it’s more cost effective to import from Asia. So get with it and grow something sustainable for the times.

That is nothing new it will continue to evolve,. Wages are not set by outdated unsustainable growers, they are set to reflect the times we live in.

You can not have the status quo forever, you must evolve and become sustainable. If your case for slave labour is correct.

Posted by *RehcTub* Thursday, 3 September 2015 7:13:29 PM

" ... but many of the 6.5% unemployed won't work, or, they won't work for min wages, or, they won't take on a job, like seasonal work, for fear of not be able to return to the dole life. It's fact. ... "

You spout this clap trap out like your brain can't grow any more.

That figure of 6.5% is a misnomer as it understates the issue of the under employed, among other things. Meaning the unemployment situation is worse ..

And *RehTub* - Human Services has teeth and when a job comes up at the job centre, a person is required to take it whether they like it or not. Any trouble, and they'll go in the bin.

You are disconnected from reality.

Unemployment is a failure of the system. And too many people get paid too much to do too little. Australia has a big GDP and what, not quite 25 million people (but more than its fair share of parasites)

By propping up antiquated businesses you are interfering with the Free Market, but then all they really know here about Free Market is how to make up there own inflated price on top of their inflated opinion of themselves. So much is not Free Market at all but rather turns on silly little rules.

I'll have Solar and Smart Batteries, and you can take your filthy coal fired over priced electricity and insert it where the Sun don't shine.

Forget the strawberry pickers and minimum wages for a moment and have a look at the company 7-Eleven which prompted me to start this little discussion. From their own website;

7-Eleven a private company owned by the Withers and Barlow family operating a franchise system.
Been operating in Australia since 1977, now has 615 stores Australia wide, Generates over 185 million transactions yearly with sales in excess of $3.6 billion. Worldwide 7-Eleven operates over 55,000 stores, with it beginnings in the USA in 1927.
Sounds like a rather successful operation, both here and overseas, in my opinion. And from my observation you certainly pay for the "convenience" when you shop in their stores. Except on a Wednesday when you can partake of the $2 sandwich sold to you by the $2 employee, features prominently in their advertising the $2 sandwich that is, not the $2 employee, he doesn't get a mention.
Who is sitting on the top of all this, the multi-millionaire Russ Withers, Mr Withers, who lives in a mansion in the Yarra Valley, was 64th on the BRW Rich List this year with an estimated fortune of $787 million. Now for the crocodile tears “Yes, there have been a number of cases that have been underpaid and the ones that we know about have been rectified.” So said Mr Withers.
To say "So, which is the real "scandal" here? The imposition of unrealistic minimum-wage laws, or the evasion of those laws by people trying to make a living?" Seems Mr Withers managed to "make a living" arather good living, like the butcher who tells his new employee; "Don't forget, get your wages through the scales!"

Dream on, I have said for years that paying people on the dole cash is half the problem. As for having to take a job, sure, they turn up, they're useless, they get sacked, then they go back in the que and wait until their number comes up to be annoyed again. It's a joke because many if these people are DFI's who are constantly drugged off their faces and don't even have to pass a drug test to get their $200 per hour pay. I say that because that's about the amount of time they actually spend doing something about work.

BTW, when you installed your solar did you receive a subsidy, because if you did those filthy coal miners taxes helped pay for that.

People have to come to the realization that the boom has gone and the pay rates, penalty rates and perks they have enjoyed will be short lived, it called life.