A “Decade of Inaction” is to blame for women continuing to earn less than men in every age bracket. ACTU President Michele O’Neil says this will continue “until we address the undervaluation and underpayment of women-dominated industries, including teaching, nursing, and care”. Australia went backwards from 14th to 70th place on the global gender pay gap index.
The Fair Work Commission has announced a 5.2 per cent increase the minimum wage from 1 July. This increase equates to an extra $40 per week in the pocket of a full-time worker on the minimum wage. For workers who are reliant on award wages, the increase will be 4.6 per cent or $40 per week, whichever is higher. The new Federal Minimum Wage moves to $812.60 per week or $42,255.20 per annum. In Victoria the new VPS1 rate from 2 June 2022 is $50,594 and the COG2A award rate for Correctional Officers increases to $50,955 for a 76 hour fortnight compared to the agreement rate $55,439.
The NSW Government, via a press release, has announced it will raise its 2.5% wage ceiling to 3% next financial year and up to 3.5% in 2023-24, in the face of incomes falling behind consumer price inflation and scheduled industrial action. The revised caps would apply to industrial instruments struck after July 1. The 3% rise would apply for the next two years, while a further 0.5% will be available in 2023-24 "for employees that make a substantial contribution to productivity-enhancing reforms", but the Government provided no further detail on what that might entail.
Working people have formed the backbone of an historic national campaign this election. A campaign which focused on conversations between colleagues in workplaces, over the phone, and on social media about the failure of the Morrison Government to deliver for working people. This campaign, led by working people, ensured that cost of living and wage growth was a decisive issue for millions of voters. The election is a rejection of a Government which refused to act to address crises in cost of living, wage growth and insecure work. We congratulate the ALP on winning government with a stro
Wages are going backwards, cost for essentials are skyrocketing, job insecurity is at crisis levels, and corporate profits have increased. And all Scott Morrison says is that it's not his job. In fact, he's hoping that voters will ignore the fact that both he and the Liberal-Nationals have been missing in action for the past nine years while things have gotten worse. Working people in Australia needs a prime minister who doesn't go missing when things get tough. We need a government that will take real, concrete steps to help lift wages and address the cost of living crisis.
The ACTU has launched a 30-second advertisement showing a couple worried about overdue bills who try to comfort each other, while their son struggles to do his homework in the family's living area.
"We're in a cost of living crisis," the narrator says. "Under Scott Morrison, real wages have flat-lined and last year, for the average worker, real wages actually went backwards – over $800. "But the cost of living is skyrocketing.
The Public Service Association is calling for a minimum raise of 3.6% for all NSW public sector workers, exclusive of superannuation, as part of its Public Sector Needs a Pay Rise campaign. PSA NSW general secretary Stewart Little recently told Workplace Express that with "inflation running at 3.5%, the arbitrary 2.5% wage cap imposed by the NSW Government is now effectively a wage cut". Little says the PSA has "fought against the cap
Aimless, Blameless, and Completely Shameless. Get your own election corflute and help us to defeat the Morrison Government. 100% Australian made. Vote him out.
The next stage of the consolidation of centralised bargaining for NZ Public Service Collective Agreements was the central point of discussions between CPSU/SPSF Federal Secretary Karen Batt and National Secretary of NZ Public Service Association Erin Polczuk when they met over zoom recently.
