ACTU to push for $26-a-week pay rise

20 May 2012, 1:27 pm   -   Source: AAP

The national industrial relations watchdog should reject any push by employers to offset a decent payrise for low paid workers, the ACTU says.

The ACTU has urged the national industrial relations watchdog to reject any push by employers to offset a decent payrise for low-paid workers.

The peak union body is appearing before the Minimum Wage Panel of Fair Work Australia (FWA) on Monday to argue its case for the national minimum wage to rise to $615.30-a-week.

A 68-cent an hour increase, from $15.51 to $16.19-an-hour, would help ensure Australia's lowest-paid workers did not fall further behind average income earners, the ACTU's new secretary Dave Oliver said in a statement on Sunday.

He urged the FWA panel assessing the claim to bear in mind the one-in-six workers who are dependent on award wages.

"It must reject any applications by employer groups that would cut the real wages of the low-paid to maximise business profits," Mr Oliver said.

Since 2005, the purchasing power of minimum wages was less than it was half-a-decade ago, he said.

The ACTU will also urge FWA to "look through" the impact of the introduction of the carbon price household assistance package when it makes its decision.

Some employer groups felt it was justification for granting a smaller increase, Mr Oliver maintained.

Last year, the ACTU pushed for low-wage workers to be given a $28-a-week pay increase but FWA granted a $19.40 wage rise, taking their weekly package to $589.30.

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