Minimum wage ruling due from Fair Work Commison
About 2.2 million workers will find out tomorrow how much of a pay rise they get on July 1.
The Fair Work Commission will tomorrow hand down its annual minimum wage decision revealing the quantum of the pay rise that will flow through to 2.2 million workers from July 1.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions wants the minimum wage lifted by $43-a-week to $762.20 a week but employers have called for the rise to be limited to about $13 to $14 a week in line with the inflation rate.
On top of this year’s claim for a six per cent rise, unions want the minimum wage lifted by a further 5.5 per cent next year to bring the minimum wage to 60 per cent of median earnings.
The ACTU claim is significantly higher than the above-inflation $24.30-a-week rise granted by the commission last year.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the commission to grant a maximum $12.95-a-week increase, describing it as an “appropriate and prudent level of increase”.
Scott Barklamb, the chamber’s workplace relations director, said a 1.8 per cent increase would see the minimum wage keep pace with price increases, while maintaining the purchasing power and living standards of lower-paid workers.
Manufacturing employers want the increase limited this year to $14.40-a-week, arguing businesses are “struggling” with higher costs and productivity growth is weak nationally.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the modest two per cent rise was warranted given the economy had moved back into the slow lane and “looks set to stay there for some time”.
He said granting the ACTU claim for a 6 per cent increase “would be a sure-fire way of destroying jobs, harming businesses, and threatening Australia’s long period of economic growth”.
Restaurant and cafe owners have called for a minimum wage freeze, declaring the commission should impose a real wage cut on low-paid workers by not granting any increase this year.
Restaurant and Catering Australia, which represents 45,000 businesses nationally, said a freeze was justified given the financial pressures on employers resulting from increased competition and the impact of above-inflation minimum wage increases granted by the commission in recent years.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has called for the commission to reach the 60 per cent target by July next year, but Fair Work president Iain Ross has previously rejected union bids to have the tribunal set a medium-term minimum wage target.
In its decision last year, the commission said increasing the minimum wage to $18.93 an hour would not lift all workers out of poverty. However, it said granting an increase big enough to immediately lift all workers out of poverty would lead to a substantial risk of adverse employment effects.
The ACTU said workers on the minimum wage desperately needed a pay rise to help them make ends meet as the cost of living continued to rise faster than wages.
The commission increased the minimum wage by 3.5 per cent last year and 3.3 per cent in 2017. The annual increase flows through to about 2.3 million workers.
The increase will coincide with the latest round of penalty rate cuts on July 1.
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