Howard & co relaxed and comfortable:
MPs go for $16,000 rise

Proposed pay rises of $16,000 a year (more than $300 a week) for Federal 
MPs demonstrates the Howard Government's "obscene double standards" says 
the ACTU: one standard for politicians and fat cat bureaucrats and another 
for the low paid.

Since its election in 1996 the Government has actively blocked decent pay 
rises for low paid workers, resulting in their gaining a paltry $36 
increase in all those three years, the Government relenting on only $24 of 
that amount.

In that same period the Government secretly handed over huge salary 
increases to heads of government departments.

Workplace Relations Minister described the increase for low paid workers as 
"relatively generous". So one wonders how he would describe his proposed 
pay rise which is more than 12 times that gained by low paid workers.

Or, to put it another way — the Government wanted to grant only an $8 per 
week increase for low paid workers in the last three Living Wage Cases. 
Those same low paid workers would have to work 40 years for an $8 wage 
increase to deliver them $16,000.

"Peter Reith also opposes what he describes as pattern bargaining by 
unions, where unions attempt to achieve similar agreements on wages and 
conditions across an industry", said ACTU President Jennie George.

"This proposal is surely pattern bargaining for politicians with no 
accountability on productivity and performance."

As for PM Howard's comment that a $300 per week rise for MPs was "fair and 
reasonable", Ms George observed there was one set of rules for the "top end 
of town" and another set of rules aimed at a big section of the workforce.

"Hundreds of thousands of low paid working people and their families are 
expected to exist on $385 a week before tax. Is this fair and reasonable?"

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