“There’s many a
true word spoken in jest.” The old saying still holds good, and although ACTU
secretary Greg Combet no doubt did mean to just make a joke when he
light-heartedly said unions used to run the country, it was closer to the bone
than more careful consideration would have allowed. For there is a great deal of
truth in it.

“Even worse, a
small number of union officials run the Labor Party, in the sense of controlling
the factions as well as the selection of parliamentary candidates and their
advancement,” writes PP
McGuinness,
weighing into the debate on Labor’s latest
“rollback”. “These were the issues really at stake during yesterday’s not very
impressive demonstration of strength by the union
movement.”

Rolling back the
one million AWAs that will exist at the time of the next election shall
literally be impossible, and great damage will be done in the process. Greg
Combet, we must say, this debate is no joking
matter.

A recent Henry
Thornton survey found that the average Henry reader’s wage increased by just
over 5% in the past year. The most recent ABS Average Weekly Earnings
data showed that full-time adult ordinary time earnings, for the private and
public sectors, rose by 4.2% and 5.6% respectively in the twelve months to
February 2006.

With wage
increases like that, it is no wonder that, according to Roy Morgan Research
data, 85% of workers who are employed full-time or part-time are satisfied with
the way they are employed.

Only time will
tell what impact Work Choices will have on wages and people’s satisfaction with
their job, but if things continue as they’ve been going, Kim Beazley has an
uphill battle.

Meanwhile, in
Sydney, Peter
Costello was telling the 100 most influential Australians: “Our greatest
triumphs are still in front of us.” Miranda
Devine reports on the glittering lunch at which this gem was delivered, the punchline
optimism.

More reading at
Henry Thornton.