Victorians earn a quarter less on AWAs

A new study compiled by Griffith and Curtin University Professors David Peetz and Alison Preston, has examined workers’ wages on AWAs with wages from certified agreements.

The Howard government has argued that WorkChoices would encourage increased wages, particularly through AWAs. In the absence of any analysis by the federal government, this report provides the first study of the effects of these reforms.

The study is proof that AWAs are a fast-track in the race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions.
AWAs are achieving exactly what the Howard Government intended - to make life harder for ordinary Victorian men and women trying to make ends meet.

Findings of the study include:

• Typical Victorian workers on AWAs earn 23 per cent less than their counterparts on collective agreements.
  
• Median wage rates for AWAs in Victoria were significantly lower because there were fewer high-paid mining jobs and a bigger take up of AWAs in the hospitality industry.
  
• Australia-wide, the study showed a typical worker employed under the Federal Government’s AWAs earned 16% less than a typical worker on a registered collective agreement.
  
• It found Australians employed on collective agreements were paid a median $24.50 an hour, some $4 an hour more than those on median AWA earnings.
  
•  Over half of AWAs abolished entitlements such as overtime pay, penalty rates, public holiday payments, shift loadings and other allowances.
  

Victorian workers are worse off due to Workchoices, which is why Labor’s pledge to abolish it is good politics and good policy.