BMW, Audi, Mercedes etc underpay their workers?
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AusPoliGAF |OT| Boats? What Boats?
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BMW, Audi, Mercedes etc underpay their workers?
Elaugaufein
Member
There are similar problems with assigning the blame to wages as there are with assigning the blame to corporate over-regulation. Namely that only the country with the lowest wages and least regulation (while retaining just enough infrastructure for whatever the purpose is) wins whereas every country that reduces the above loses in terms of quality of life.
It's why corporation support of globalization is utterly two faced, they'll outsource every job they can to low wage/regulation countries but do everything in their power to make consumer importation of their products from low wage countries to high wage countries (where they sell them for muchos profits) difficult. They have no desire whatsoever to enter a race to the bottom on their profits.
Elaugaufein
Member
You could try explaining it by analogy to household appliances, if we must pretend that sovereign governments with their own currencies work like households. A dishwasher costs money up front but it saves you time, and thus money, in the long run. Employment is a similar proposition, you invest to get potential new businesses of the ground so they provide employment in the long run.
bobnowhere
Member
People world wide want to buy these cars and happily pay the premium attached to manufacture in Germany. No one want's to buy a Commodore.
After mining also tails off we're basically down to services. We don't have the infrastructure to focus on IT and it's even harder to get a research industry off the ground when you don't have a manufacturing industry to leech cheap local parts off of.
German workers are paid less or more? Wages aren't the problem.
I agree. The fact that we make shitty cars is the problem, not the fact that we have high wages. My specific problem with IR law ISN'T the wages. I like our wages.
The problem I SPECIFICALLY have with the Fair Work Act is that it's exceptionally bureaucratic...and it's constructed in a way that it's guaranteeing the over-casualisation of our workforce. Entire chapters in there for protecting workers rights are completely circumvented by adverse action notices providing a reverse onus. (To be fair over-casualisation has been an issue for a long time).
I hate European legal systems with a passion (civil law) but I honestly think that Germany and the Scandinavian countries have IR law right. There is no minimum wage, aside from a general legal protection that prohibits an immoral wage, whatever that means. Unions actually negotiate wages on an industry level..kind of like the award system but you know, it actually works really well.
And yes, I have no problems with Unions. It's a logical extension of my passion for democratic rights. Workers are allowed to assemble and campaign for whatever they wish, even if I don't personally agree with it. That's not for me to decide if they want to campaign for it or not.
Depends who they are. German workers who are part of a union/officially work in a certain sector probably get paid a decent amount because BMW can't exactly get away with paying trained employees like crap. But there's a lot of claims that Germany's lack of minimum wage is part of the reason why their exports are so strong in the Eurozone. Immoral wage means nothing, which is the exact point of its existence. You can't treat Germans like shit but about that Polish guy who has no social bridges? They're fair game for exploitation.
The lack of minimum wage and the fact that they're using a currency shared by a large number of its neighboring states means their labour costs are dirt cheap, their exports can be exported cheaper than, say, France because overhead is lower, and their companies can make larger profits because the neighboring countries are all buying all of their produce because the quality is OK and its cheap. If France wants to fuck with Germany's currency, it won't do anything since they both share the same currency.
Part of the agricultural conflict between Germany and France is has to do with wages. France's agriculture sector sees the German agriculture sector as an entity that exploits vulnerable demographics. They claim that they purposely import EU labour and then pay them peanuts to do labour intensive jobs like livestock slaughtering. It does make a bit of sense that they can get away with this as imported labour often have no collective bargaining power as they're not German, they have no idea about the laws, and they're not a part of a union.
Now, I dunno how much this is true but in United Kingdom you have everyone half-joking about the Polish tiler who will do the job for 1/4 the price of a British tiler...much this is just anti-immigration nationalism/racism but its talked about enough that this sort of labour exploitation is most likely a thing in some European Union nations.
I actually agree with Arksy here. The workers in car manufacturing in Australia are well above minimum wage, so Germany's lack of an award still makes them comparable. Germany also has a very strong social welfare, health and education system which indirectly gives people power to negotiate higher wages. If employers offer a crap deal people can ride the safety net. Contrary to right wing thinking this hasn't caused high unemployment and a culture of dependence.
I can tell you in the modern right, there aren't that many people that want to scrap welfare all together, we just want there to be a bit of a gap between what benefits are and what a working wage is....that way we can incentivse people who are either dependent or receiving benefits to get to work. Currently in Australia, there IS a gap and that's a good thing. A lot of us believe in Kennedy's proclamation that the best way out of poverty is with a stable job. Of course different people have different ideas on how to do it, but I've NEVER heard anyone say that poor people should receive nothing or they shouldn't be able to survive on benefits. My own idea is to raise the tax free threshold to minimum wage. In fact that was in my opinion, the most admirable thing the ALP did in office, raise the tax free threshold to about $17,000.
Credit where credit was due, that was awesome.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
German workers are more flexible when it comes to working hours, they are far more likely to accept less hours per week when demand goes down for there products in the hope they will keep their jobs when things return to normal. Already mentioned but they also make a range of products that sell and respond to changes in the market far quicker. Neither Holden or Ford did the same locally despite sales of their big 4 door sedans dropping consistantly over the years.
Should also be pointed out, that something like 80% of BMW's are made in south africa these days.
And i know both mercedes and audi have large manufacturing plants there too.
They're selling the badge.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2014/2/12/infrastructure/hockey-prepares-asset-sales
HAHA YES PRIVATISATION
TELSTRA LEVEL EFFICIENCY IN EVERY SECTOR
HAHA YES PRIVATISATION
TELSTRA LEVEL EFFICIENCY IN EVERY SECTOR
Box of Bunnies
Banned
SUDDEN REVENUE INCREASE
BUDGET SURPLUS ATTAINED
COALITION FISCAL GENIUSES
BUDGET SURPLUS ATTAINED
COALITION FISCAL GENIUSES
You know. I've been arguing for ages now that the common people should be given a chance because they're good people at heart and they don't need anyone telling them what's best for them. Basically everyone here told me I was an idiot....annddddd...I think you might be right....Sigh.
Derka Derka Terrorist Beer!
Derka Derka Terrorist Beer!
The largest carnival of stupid I have ever seen, just wow.
Its par for the course regarding Halal certifications.
I remember reading in the United Kingdom's The Sun that people were outraged that restaurants and schools are serving people Halal dishes without telling customers. Same thing happened in the United States when they started producing stealth Halal turkeys for Thanksgiving.
People just really hate Muslims and this is how they kind of express their hate. Common reasoning is that Islam doesn't encompass the things _______ represents so I'm definitely not accepting food that is slaughtered like this.
I remember reading in the United Kingdom's The Sun that people were outraged that restaurants and schools are serving people Halal dishes without telling customers. Same thing happened in the United States when they started producing stealth Halal turkeys for Thanksgiving.
People just really hate Muslims and this is how they kind of express their hate. Common reasoning is that Islam doesn't encompass the things _______ represents so I'm definitely not accepting food that is slaughtered like this.
Box of Bunnies
Banned
No, see, halal is bad because it's dem there mooslims comin' in and telling us how to run our country. If you don't like how we slaughter our animals fucking fuck off back to where you came from, mate.
Seriously though Halal compliance has literally zero impact on non-Muslims and people complaining about it are straight-up xenophobes who aren't even trying to hide it.
Seriously though Halal compliance has literally zero impact on non-Muslims and people complaining about it are straight-up xenophobes who aren't even trying to hide it.
Even the fucking cross over Australia looks like an amateur bogan photoshop job.
Yeah because as if the Liberals know how to do anything else.
I think Jews escape the wrath of the average racist deadshit.
._.
*rollseyes*
Box of Bunnies
Banned
End all cultural spending, funnel it directly into the military.
Don't need to worry about what companies pulling out of the country means for the manufacturing industry if we create our own military industrial complex!
Don't need to worry about what companies pulling out of the country means for the manufacturing industry if we create our own military industrial complex!
._.
Tea Party mentality 101.
Is there a topic in OT about the guv'ment-created comic? Is it worth creating one for this?
PS. You contributing anything, Gaz?
shanshan310
Member
Treasurer Hockey says governments cant fund projects so workers savings should be used
It's like a headline from The Onion
It's like a headline from The Onion
bobnowhere
Member
Well Jewish people believe in uh Jesus Christ not "haram".
Haha! I though of that dimwit as well.
The whole lack of oversight is the scariest part of this new government. For a group that was going on about open government, the adults in charge etc... before the election, their efforts to eliminate all dissent is frightening.
I sure as hell hope people start waking up and demanding answers because at the moment it seems as though every conservitive pollie, every far right and even lib leaning journo, every forum rabble-rouser and every dimwit with a facebook/twitter account gets the same email every morning from Credlin's Office and they all sing in the same choir of drones. On the other hand we have Shorten popping up every now and then, changing tact every day hope to take out Tony with a thousand cuts. They really need to stand up to this shit and not be afraid of criticism, grow a set Bill.
So pretty much what it was the last time when they were in power?
I honestly didn't think it wouldn't be this bad when they won....but now, the long term implications of what they have started to do are actually quite terrible, I sometimes wonder if the general population cares? Quite depressing when you think about what the future could be like
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
I'm starting to think he doesn't actually know what our money is. Maybe he was actually expecting a massive chest of gold and then freaked out when it wasn't there and assumed Labor spent it all.
Box of Bunnies
Banned
The Greens destroyed the ALP.
Chasing disgusting right wing voters that want to drown browns and segregate homosexuals destroyed the ALP.
The Coalition wouldn't know a major infrastructure project if it turkey slapped them in the face.
Box of Bunnies
Banned
Infrastructure? That's the thing you sell off to make it look like you're fiscally smart, right?
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