Webinar on Wages, Prices, and Power
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is sponsoring a series of webinars for union members, delegates, officials, and leaders on the current crisis in the cost of living in Australia. The surge in inflation since economic re-opening after COVID lockdowns has obviously intensified that crisis. But the seeds for it were planted long ago: by a decade of historically weak wage growth, a speculative property price bubble, and a systematic efforts to weaken collective bargaining and unionisation.
Jim Stanford (Economist and Director) and Greg Jericho (Policy Director, Labour Market and Fiscal) from the Centre for Future Work are providing keynote presentations as part of this series. Below is a recording of the first of these presentations, presented by Jim.
For other resources on inflation, how it is undermining real living standards for workers, and how to fix it (without throwing the whole economy into recession – an even bigger risk!), please see:
The Wages Crisis: Revisited (Centre for Future Work overview of falling real wages, by Andrew Stewart, Jim Stanford, and Tess Hardy)
An Economy That Works for People (ACTU Macroeconomics Discussion Paper)
“The Cure of Inflation Looks Worse than the Disease“ (latest Guardian Australia column by Greg Jericho)
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