working for the man

We have a skills and labour shortage. We are constantly reminded how the balance of power lies now with the employee. So you'd think that valued employees would be looked after.

Offspring no 1 called during the week. He works for a mid-sized multinational. He has no quals (year 12) but has worked for them for about 2 years and appears to be valued. They sent him interstate to help set up a new store and he was for a while in contention for a regional sales manager job.

His salary review had taken place and he was given about an extra $3500 a year. He'd been expecting $5000 - he says - but nonetheless this was OK. And then his terms were varied, including the amount of overtime. So he figures he's now going to be down a hundred or so a week.

Now, I have no more details and maybe this is not an accurate reflection of the situation. But even if halfway correct, it's just bloody bizarre in current circumstances. If they've been doing so much business that they needed him to do the overtime, what's changed?

There's no indication that this is WorkChoices related. Anyway, we are catching up with him this weekend and I'll be fascinated to get more detail.

Tonight's biggest laugh came courtesy of the PM, who I could have sworn started talking about the national interest while getting his obligatory 15 minutes on ABC news. I'm surprised he didn't choke. What a hide.