Strike threat over low pay rise offers

United Workers Union warns employers will be hit by more strikes unless they lift their pay rise offers above three per cent.

United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy says there is widespread anger among delegates. Picture: Cameron Bates

A key national union warned employers would be hit by more strikes unless they lifted their pay rise offers above three per cent, declaring the rising inflation rate showed workers had lost an entire decade of wages growth.

United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy said there was widespread anger among delegates attending the UWU’s first ever convention on Wednesday, with the consensus being “you don’t get given wage increases, you are going to have to win them”.

“If employers continue their current approach in offering just not acceptable wage increases that are stuck in a band between two and three per cent, that workers won’t accept that anymore and there will be higher industrial disputation,” he told The Australian.

“There’s definitely much more widespread anger than I have seen for many years. The anger is growing and it’s visceral about people’s lot in life. They see enormous pockets of wealth in Australia and they keep getting told the economy’s going well and they’re not feeling any of it.”

He said some members would be capable of gaining a six per cent pay rise for the first year of their next enterprise agreement in line with the inflation rate but “for the majority, no, they won’t - not under the current system, it’s just impossible”.

Mr Kennedy said there had been a significant change in the mindset of workers since late last year, with many no longer prepared to accept increases of two to three per cent.

“The momentum about this problem has built up much quicker than I would have thought,” he said.

“I definitely think in certain low-paid sectors the position will be four to five definitely. In higher paid sectors, it may be slightly below that. But increasingly, based on the mood today, the four to five band is where the focus is in terms of trying to achieve outcomes.

“There will be some pushing beyond that band and some will win it.”

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Steve Murphy told The Australian last week his union would examine pursuing 8 per cent pay rises in response to rising inflation.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions said real wages had not been this low since 2011, and workers on an average annual income of $69,000 would have suffered a $2350 pay cut over the past 12 months.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said employers should be passing on “significant” wage increases to workers given the level of company profits and bonuses paid to chief executives.

“Taking industrial action is always the last option for workers and what I would say is that workers who are organised are prepared to take action in many sectors but it’s the last step, not the first step,” she said.

Michele O'Neil. Picture: Liam Kidston.

“If employers were behaving in a fairer way, and instead of passing cost increases to consumers in the way they have, and instead of, in many cases, lining their own pockets with record high profits and CEO bonuses then, of course, a negotiated outcome to fair wage increases would be happening without any industrial action.

“Employers need to step up and pass on fair wage increases to workers that get wages rising again. It’s so short sighted for them not to do this … if low-wage workers aren’t getting fair wage increases, they’ve got nothing to spend.”

Ms O’Neil said the jobs and skills summit in September was an opportunity to address the wages crisis, and fix a bargaining system “decimated by a series of Coalition governments hellbent on taking power away from workers”.