ACTU revives living wage push for lowest-paid

Amid the ACTU move, one union secretary said there was a need for a series of above-inflation increases, and warned of law changes if necessary.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus says unions will campaign for a living wage for the lowest-paid. Picture: Ian Currie/NewsWire

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Unions will press for higher above-inflation annual minimum wage increases during Labor’s second term as the ACTU revives the union movement’s push for a “living wage” for the nation’s lowest-paid workers.

In the wake of the Fair Work Commission granting the biggest real increase in award wages in recent years, ACTU secretary Sally McManus flagged the new push for a living wage to be paid to workers currently earning below $50,000 a year on the minimum wage.

“It’s always been a long-term ambition of the union movement to ensure the minimum wage is a living wage and something we’ll continue to campaign on,” she told The Australian.

The proposal gained prominence during the ACTU’s Change the Rules campaign ahead of the 2019 election, when unions called for changes to how the commission determined the annual minimum wage increase.

The commission must currently consider the performance and competitiveness of the national economy, including productivity, business competitiveness and viability, inflation and employment growth; the need to achieve gender equality; promoting social inclusion through increased workforce participation; and the relative living standards and the needs of the low- paid.

The Change the Rules proposal wanted the laws changed to require the commission to give greater attention to ensuring the lowest-paid workers received an income that would cover the “reasonable needs of an average-sized family” by looking at cost of rent; a balanced and healthy diet; a good-quality education; childcare; all health needs; transport; electricity and other energy costs; adequate clothing; an allowance for entertainment; and a contingency for unexpected expenses.

The union push was based on the 1907 Harvester decision which set a living wage at a level which would allow an unskilled labourer to support a wife and three children.

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association national secretary Gerard Dwyer said on Wednesday that “it should be fundamental that workers in a prosperous democracy are paid well enough to cover their bills, provide food and shelter for their families and lead a life of dignity and security”.

“Australia proudly pioneered this as the benchmark of an equitable society and in an era of increasing inequality, its restoration should be a priority,” Mr Dwyer said

United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy said there was a need for the commission to deliver a series of above-inflation annual increases in coming years, and the laws should be changed if it was necessary to achieve the living wage objective.

“It is not in the interests of the economy to have people who can’t survive on the minimum wage,” he told The Australian. “We do need a living wage and we do need to give the commission the capacity to focus on that.

“I think, over time, it would mean significant increases. We will need a series of above- inflation minimum wage decisions to get us to a living wage.”

Ms McManus said the lowest-paid full-time workers earned $49,200, which was not enough to live on.

“The Fair Work Commission did a whole study into this and said that for people to live a healthy life, the minimum wage probably needs to lift by about $150 a week,” she told ABC radio.

“We used to have this idea in Australia that a full-time wage should be a living wage – like one that you can live on – and we don’t anymore because it’s slipped back. So we will be setting our sights in the future about making sure that very bottom number of the minimum wage, which is less than 50-grand, is actually a liveable wage.”