'Fair Pay' Commissioner Revealed

Last week, the ABC's PM program unearthed material that sheds some light on the new 'Fair Pay' Commissioner, Professor Ian Harper. Judging from his academic record, the future for the lowest paid in our community is bleak.

Until now, little has been publicly known about what the commission's new chief, Professor Ian Harper, thinks about wages.

But PM has unearthed a paper by Professor Harper which condemns the concept, established in the famous Harvester Judgement of 1907, of a "fair and reasonable" wage.

The Fair Pay Commission's boss also expresses approval for wage rates paid in the sweatshops of lower Manhattan some time ago.

This would indicate that the good professor is set to play his part in realising a long term goal of this miserable conservative government, ie, the creation of a under-class of working poor.

Squeezed between the new 'Work Choices' legislation and the 'Fair Pay' body, the weakest in society will experience pay and conditions erroded over time.

If, God help us, the conservatives win yet another term of government, the structure will be in place to allow unemployment benefits to be cut. Who needs them when there are so many low paid jobs available?

The future looks bright for security professionals, though. They'll be doing a brisk trade as the beneficiaries of the new order fortify their properties against the new class of have-nots.