The latest inflation figures have triggered pay increases of up to 8 per cent for some workers, even as the vast majority are facing thousands of dollars in real wage cuts.

Energy and maintenance workers in West Australia, including at its privately owned coal-fired power station, Bluewaters Power, have tied wage rises in their enterprise agreements to Perth’s March quarter annual CPI, which the ABS inflation report said had surged to the highest of all the states at 7.6 per cent.