Gina Rinehart calls for Australian wage cut

Soldato
Joined
30 Jun 2006
Posts
6,191
Location
Horsham
She does kind of have a point, but completely misses it.

It is very difficult for companies in UK/AUS/America/"Western World" to remain competitive when there are people in the less developed who are able to be employed for a tenth of what it costs to employ someone domestically.

This is wrong kind of. Wages should be proportional to cost of living, but being so horrendously low in elsewhere is terrible.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Dec 2007
Posts
31,991
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Rinehart is a joke. The average Australia doesn't give a toss about what she thinks, and we can afford to take this attitude because she has no political clout.

My internet was $130 a month with a 500GB a month cap. I could have got internet for $40 a month but i needed to download all those linux ISOs.

You got screwed bad. I'm on $70 per month with no cap at all. Totally unlimited.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Feb 2006
Posts
726
Location
Perth, Australia
My experience of mining in Australia

1. It's unbelievably safe, the mining companies take health and safety very seriously and it influences all their decisions

2. The wages aren't as high as first perceived, when you work on a site you'll be doing 12 hour days for your shift pattern typically it works out that you work the equivalent of 60hour weeks. So hourly rate isn't that different from a 40hr/week city job.

3. The iron ore mining industry is under some stress at the moment due to the drop in ore prices. The big mining companies are making efficiencies to keep costs down, Rio Tinto for example have driverless trucks, all remotely controlled by someone sat a 1000 miles away.

4. Cost of living is generally ok, but WA is the most expensive state on most accounts.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
12,298
Location
Vvardenfell
She does kind of have a point, but completely misses it.

It is very difficult for companies in UK/AUS/America/"Western World" to remain competitive when there are people in the less developed who are able to be employed for a tenth of what it costs to employ someone domestically.



So why, when they suggest a wage cut, do they never suggest cutting their own wages, or those of the senior staff, only the junior ones? Why do the wages of the people who actually do the work have to "compete" with Third World wages to be as low as possible, but the wages of senior managers and execs need to "compete" with the huge wages of their US equivalents to be as high as possible? If she was to halve her own salary, she would still be vastly better off than all or almost all of her employees, but the company would be more competitive because of reduced overheads. But anyone want to suggest the odds of that happening?
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Jul 2009
Posts
8,919
Location
Cayman Islands
277047-gina-rinehart-an-australian-mining-tycoon-has-leap-frogged-walmart-hei.jpg


Looks more like a Euro Millions Lotto winner....
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
22 Sep 2011
Posts
10,575
Location
Portsmouth (Southsea)
So why, when they suggest a wage cut, do they never suggest cutting their own wages, or those of the senior staff, only the junior ones? Why do the wages of the people who actually do the work have to "compete" with Third World wages to be as low as possible, but the wages of senior managers and execs need to "compete" with the huge wages of their US equivalents to be as high as possible? If she was to halve her own salary, she would still be vastly better off than all or almost all of her employees, but the company would be more competitive because of reduced overheads. But anyone want to suggest the odds of that happening?
Exactly this.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Jun 2006
Posts
6,191
Location
Horsham
So why, when they suggest a wage cut, do they never suggest cutting their own wages, or those of the senior staff, only the junior ones? Why do the wages of the people who actually do the work have to "compete" with Third World wages to be as low as possible, but the wages of senior managers and execs need to "compete" with the huge wages of their US equivalents to be as high as possible? If she was to halve her own salary, she would still be vastly better off than all or almost all of her employees, but the company would be more competitive because of reduced overheads. But anyone want to suggest the odds of that happening?

Indeed I do agree. However a lot of the time the super wealthy don't draw that much of a salary. Buffet takes home $150k from Berkshire Hathaway. The extra $bn he earns are from shares and other financial products. I can't comment on Rinehart's salary as I have no idea what it is.
 
Back
Top Bottom