this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
20 points (100.0% liked)

Australia

64 readers
24 users here now

A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.

Before you post:

If you're posting anything related to:

If you're posting Australian News (not opinion or discussion pieces) post it to Australian News

Rules

This community is run under the rules of aussie.zone. In addition to those rules:

Banner Photo

Congratulations to @Tau@aussie.zone who had the most upvoted submission to our banner photo competition

Recommended and Related Communities

Be sure to check out and subscribe to our related communities on aussie.zone:

Plus other communities for sport and major cities.

https://aussie.zone/communities

Moderation

Since Kbin doesn't show Lemmy Moderators, I'll list them here. Also note that Kbin does not distinguish moderator comments.

Additionally, we have our instance admins: @lodion@aussie.zone and @Nath@aussie.zone

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Would you take a pay cut to work from home?

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett is proposing public servants who work remotely should be paid less than those that have no choice but to commute — such as nurses and teachers.

He explained his idea to Sammy J on ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast.

top 17 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Dalek_Thal@aussie.zone 29 points 1 year ago

Kennet can get fucked. He fucked this State over, and his ideas are awful.

[–] PeelerSheila@aussie.zone 19 points 1 year ago

He closed so many schools in my area, and now with a booming population the existing schools are massively over enrolled and struggling. Fuck you Jeff.

[–] fiat_lux@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago

He also proposed to a girls school that they have an extra child for the country, didn't he? Wake up, Jeff.

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remote workers are already cheaper for their employers. A workforce of several hundred employees where 90% of them are remote can happily exist using a fraction of the commercial office space that a fully onsite workforce would need.

If remote work is such a win-win for most organisations as well as employees, why is there such a movement to penalise and discourage the concept?

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Because there are bigger sharks with real estate interests...with the twin remora of middle management requiring justification and Worker Control riding upon its sides.

[–] raspberry_confetti@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago
[–] schown 9 points 1 year ago

How is anyone still paying Jeff Kennett any attention at this point?

[–] ag_roberston_author 9 points 1 year ago

Maybe we should just pay teachers and nurses more?

[–] Nonameuser678@aussie.zone 7 points 1 year ago

Teachers and nurses are underpaid and should be paid more because of how important their jobs are to society. Bringing wages down for everyone else is beyond fucking stupid when the same argument can be made about just lifting wages for teachers and nurses.

Teachers and nurses also arguably benefit from wfh. Fewer cars on the road = fewer accidents for nurses to deal with. Parents having better work life balance = more capacity to help their kids learn so teachers are less burdened.

[–] No1@aussie.zone 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And how about politicians only get paid for when they are at work sitting in parliament?

And don't get a fat cat pension for the rest of their lives.

The lack of self awareness is fucking unbelievable.

[–] Anonbal185@aussie.zone 5 points 1 year ago

A better way is to change travel time from private time to company time with a cap so people don't abuse it.

E.g. Sydney maximum cap 2 hours each way, Canberra would be like 45 mins. To reduce discrimination for employers to discriminate by choosing closer people, every employer pays the maximum regardless of where the employee is located to the government and the government reimburses the staff, while pocketing the difference.

[–] Ucinorn@aussie.zone 4 points 1 year ago

Jeff Kennett desperately trying to remain relevant after dropping out of headlines for a few weeks

[–] DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's an unpopular opinion, but I think this will happen organically over the coming decade.

WFH jobs are more desirable, naturally on premise jobs will have to pay more to attract employees.

Saying WFH jobs should take a pay cut is just incendiary phrasing. No one wants a pay cut.

One aspect not mentioned here is that, this will discourage the unnecessary "back to work" movement espoused by commercial property interests.

[–] zero_gravitas@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s an unpopular opinion, but I think this will happen organically over the coming decade.

WFH jobs are more desirable, naturally on premise jobs will have to pay more to attract employees.

For roles which can be either WFH or on-premises, yeah. But in the case of nurses and teachers it's not like they'll have an option, and it's not trivial to switch into or out of those professions. So I don't think you can say this will occur organically across the public sector as a whole. It'll only happen within silos of similar (enough) positions.

Saying WFH jobs should take a pay cut is just incendiary phrasing. No one wants a pay cut.

I think Coalition governments would probably like to give public servants a pay cut. Sure, there's not many places the Coalition is in power at the moment, but when they do come into power again I'd imagine they'd find it handy to know where public opinion falls on cutting public servants' wages (or at least reducing increases) depending on whether they WFH. I wouldn't be surprised if Kennett is running this up the flagpole for them.

[–] DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not trivial to switch into or out of those professions, and yet the ability is a huge incentive to do so.

I don't expect these changes will happen immediately, but in 10 years time I think it's pretty natural to assume you'll be able to earn more if you're willing to work in an on premise profession.

Your opinion isn’t that unpopular.. and it is siloed like the OP said too. Everyone can be right. Hooray!! - case closed 😁

Right now I’m across the border in the public service at a service further from home (commute is insane) with an option closer with more money (and stress). Very privileged and siloed. But yeah, my org knew what made them competitive and today I only dressed my top half 😎

It’s a formal arrangement 2 days a week, the world turns. I’m productive at home, they got to keep their “talent”… (little do they know haha)

To/dr Capitalism wins, may as well get yours..

[–] gorkette@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Equal pay for equal work. Why should someone working in an office building be paid more than someone working remotely, doing the same job?

load more comments
view more: next ›