Employment Minister Tony Burke says Labor has chosen to remain ‘silent’ on one wage issue

Employment Minister Tony Burke says Labor has deliberately chosen to remain “silent” on one issue affecting workers’ wages.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says Labor has deliberately chosen to remain “silent” on one issue affecting workers’ pay.

The Albanese government has formally backed a pay rise of 5.1 per cent for low-paid workers in line with inflation in its submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review.

But Labor hasn’t argued that the specific increase apply to all award rates, which set out the pay for most jobs and employees in Australia.

“What the submission says … is the new government does not want to see Australian workers go backwards,” Mr Burke told ABC Radio on Monday.

“So as a general principle, we’re not wanting to see people go backwards. But then we’ve specifically focused the submission on the impact of low-paid workers.”

Mr Burke’s comments comes as the Reserve Bank prepares to hold a board meeting on Tuesday in which it is expected to again raise interest rates.

Asked why Labor hadn’t recommended a specific increase “across the board”, Mr Burke said governments generally didn’t put a fixed number on submissions.

“But the cost of living crisis is so acute for people on lower wages. That’s why we felt the need to put in that straight principle that those workers should not be going backwards,” he said.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says the government is focusing on low-paid workers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

A 5.1 per cent increase to the minimum wage would equate to a raise of about $1 an hour for the almost three million people who rely on the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review to determine their pay.

The industrial umpire will determine later this month whether the national minimum wage of $20.33 per hour will be raised.

Mr Burke said it was up to the commission to work out how to increase wages across higher awards, saying Labor had been “very much silent” on the matter in its submission.

“It’s up to the commission to work out how to do that,” he said.

“In the discussions that have been happening back and forth in the public hearings so far, one of the things they’ve been contemplating would be a flat dollar increase that went across (awards).

“So you end up with a bigger proportionate benefit at lower rates of pay than you did at higher.”

After Labor lodged its submission to the Fair Work Commission last Friday, Mr Burke said inflation meant Australians’ wages were going backwards by 2.7 per cent.

“The government doesn’t want anyone to go backwards, but this is at its most acute for low-wage earners. They’re the people most affected by the cost of living crisis,” he said at the time.

“We have not specifically said only minimum wage, we said low-paid workers. Who are these people? They’re largely the heroes of the pandemic.”