Forget the boardroom what about the shop floor?

08-March-2011

26.3% of employees in manufacturing (261,000) are women and a whopping 56.6% of employees in retail (707,000) are women. 11% of board members are women but raising board participation will do nothing for women if the much greater numbers already engaged in the industries lower down the remuneration chain are out of a job because of Gillard’s carbon tax.

The story is the same across the country, retailers are often doing their best to supply Australian made products and manufacturers are struggling to hold on to supplying them in this climate of a high Australian dollar and low consumer confidence to spend.

Many manufacturers who were holding on have invested heavily in research and development as well as streamlining their processes and now Gillard will slug their every operating cost.

It costs around $2,000 to produce a bed in an Australian furniture factory, these beds are made of Australian timbre. Then a retailer has to put some money on top to run their operations and the bed will be sold for around $4,000. Cheaper beds are available from overseas but the customers are not coming.

“We know anecdotally that major furniture sellers are ordering less stock, one factory I spoke to this week said he only had 2 weeks worth of orders in his system and it is a nail biting situation for him and for the 26.3% of manufacturing employees who are women,” said Shadow Minister for Science Innovation and Industry Sophie Mirabella.

“As for the huge number of women in retail, if this government’s assault on consumer confidence continues, people will continue to spend less and there will be more retail workers out in the cold.”

“The focus on the board room is all very well and good, but Australia’s boards cannot stop this PM and her decision to tax many lower paid women out of a job.”