Unions reject wage freeze call

ACTU declares the Covid pandemic is the only recession in Australian history when company profits got bigger, not smaller.

ACTU president Michele O'Neil. Picture: Gary Ramage

The unions have hit back at employer calls to delay or freeze minimum wage increases for low-paid workers, saying COVID was the only recession in Australian history when company profits “got bigger, not smaller”.

In a reply submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual minimum wage review, the ACTU stood by its bid for a $26-a-week increase for 2.2 million minimum wage and award-­reliant workers from July.

Employers in COVID-stressed industries have been leading a business push for the commission to either impose a pay freeze or delay any pay increase until ­February next year.

The ACTU said any outcome that resulted in a below-inflation increase was not a pay freeze but a real pay cut.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said cutting the pay of the workers who have kept the economy going during the crisis — including cleaners, supermarket employees, health and aged-care workers — “would be deeply ­unfair and bad for the economy”.

“Wage growth keeps hitting new record lows and is currently just 1.4 per cent, while profits grew 15.1 per cent last year,” she said.

“It’s the first recession in Australian history when profits got bigger, not smaller. Money in the hands of working people will drive the recovery from the pandemic.”

The restaurant and cafe sector this week blamed the government’s “lagging” vaccination rollout for delaying the economic recovery, citing problems with the program to justify its call to impose a real wage cut on low-paid workers this year.

Unions are pushing the commission to abandon the staggered approach to pay rises taken during the pandemic and award a 3.5 per cent pay rise to all minimum-wage and award-­reliant workers from July.

Commission president Iain Ross has sought the views of the Morrison government, the ACTU and employers on what action it should take in this year’s review to “deal with” its previous decision to delay rises in impacted industries until as late as ­February this year.

Ms O’Neil said minimum wage increases were a key to ­generating economic growth through spending.

“The arguments being made by the big business lobby as part of this process are disingenuous and disappointing, but not surprising,” she said.

“They have consistently put the narrow short-term interests of their members — huge corporations that have expanded their profits during a recession — ahead of the national interest and even ahead of public safety.”