Latest news with #payincrease
ABC News
16 hours ago
- Business
- ABC News
Workers get a pay rise from July
Samantha Donovan: Back to Australia now and from July 1st, millions of workers will be entitled to a pay increase. The Fair Work Commission announced today it's decided to boost the minimum wage by 3.5 per cent. That's higher than the rate of inflation. The Commission says workers need the cost of living relief and businesses can, on the whole, afford it. Here's our business correspondent, David Taylor. David Taylor: Australia's lowest paid workers will soon be getting a bit of a pay bump, roughly $32 extra a week, taking their salary up to $948 a week. Despite the increase, these people on their lunch break in Brisbane's South Bank think the minimum wage is still too low. Opinion: Phone bills, internet, you can't survive without internet. But with a wage like that, you have to decide what's most important. I don't think so. Opinion: I don't think I could afford my rent off that. Yeah, cost of living is obviously affecting us all and it's quite a low weekly take-home wage. Opinion: I think it should be above $1,000. Opinion: Being a second year apprentice, I only earn around $17.50 an hour and I don't think that's going to change with the award, so it doesn't really affect me. David Taylor: It's one of the largest above-inflation increases ever awarded and will lift the national minimum wage from $24.10 an hour to $24.95 an hour. Today's decision also results in an increase for many workers not on the minimum wage. It'll affect pay rates for workers on 120 wards, or about 21% of the workforce. Unions had asked for a 4.5% pay bump. While they didn't get anything near that, ACTU National Secretary, Sally McManus welcomed the outcome. Sally McManus: The Fair Work Commission accepted the arguments made by unions that it was time for low-wage workers, award workers to start catching up for what was lost during the inflation spike. David Taylor: But that extra money has to come from somewhere. The CEO of the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association, Wes Lambert, says businesses will cop the financial hit at an already vulnerable time. Wes Lambert: On top of insurance, on top of rents, on top of utilities, on top of all of the other costs that hospitality businesses have to face, while they also have price ceilings, consumers don't want to pay more than $5 for a cup of coffee. We don't have any room to move. If we can't raise our prices and we're stuck with no profit or a loss, that just leads to business closures. David Taylor: While CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or ACCI, Andrew McKellar, agrees businesses will find it tough to accommodate the increase. Andrew McKellar: It has to be remembered that this decision is being delivered against a backdrop of declining productivity. We've seen profitability for many businesses going backwards over the past 18 months or so. David Taylor: So where does all this leave Australia's struggle to boost productivity? The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Amanda Rishworth, says the government's working on it. Amanda Rishworth: The productivity challenge is something that our government is absolutely committed to and something that, as you may know, the Treasurer has commissioned the Productivity Commission to look into this. David Taylor: While that's all going on in the background, AMP's chief economist, Shane Oliver, says despite weak levels of productivity, wages growth above 3% does not appear to be inflationary. Shane Oliver: I think 3.5% is a reasonably good outcome. It does give workers a real wage rise of just over 1%. David Taylor: Just on that though, the Reserve Bank has consistently said what it's concerned about with a tight labour market is that it will push wages growth up and without the associated productivity gains, that could be inflationary. Now we know that productivity is still lagging. It's negative based on the latest national accounts. So are you concerned that an above inflation wage rise like this, without the productivity gains, could lead to inflation? Shane Oliver: Look, it's certainly a risk. There's no doubt about that. But I guess the Reserve Bank and many economists have to concede that despite poor productivity growth in recent years, and a tight labour market, we have seen wages growth slow down. David Taylor: Official figures on the overall health of Australia's economy, including an update on productivity growth, will be released tomorrow. Samantha Donovan: David Taylor reporting.
News.com.au
a day ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Fair Work Commission to hand down Annual Wage Review, Aussies on minimum wage to get pay bump
Australians on the minimum wage are set to receive a pay increase on Tuesday, with Australia's top union boss urging the body to boost annual full time pay by $2143. An expert panel will hand down the decision in Sydney at 10am on Tuesday. While the Albanese government has called for the independent arbitrator to provide an increase above inflation, currently at 2.4 per cent, the ACTU is lobbying for a much higher boost of 4.5 per cent. For about 2.6 million Aussies on the minimum wage that would hike their hourly wage to $25.18 per hour, lifting the packet for an annual full-time worker by $2143 to $49,770. The changes will come into effect from July 1. ACTU national secretary Sally McManus said low paid workers had 'gone backwards' after years of high inflation and high interest rates. She said any wage increase below 2.4 per cent would be 'manifestly wrong and unfair,' and the new rate should allow people to 'get ahead and catch up'. 'The Fair Work Commission couldn't award increases that kept up with inflation when inflation spiked, but they did say that people needed to catch up, and it was just a matter of working out when things are more stable and favourable,' she told NewsWire. 'We say they're more favourable now. 'All of those businesses got through that period of time by putting up their prices … but workers can't adjust their pay like they these low paid workers are dependent on this (once-a-year) decision.' Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has previously called for 'an economically responsible real wage increase' while stating that the 'setting of the minimum wage is a matter for the Fair Work Commission'. 'We do need to consider the economic conditions, but we also believe that in those economic conditions, workers deserve a real wage increase,' she said in May. Currently, the minimum wage is $24.10 per hour, which equates to $915.90 or an annual full-time salary of $47,627.06.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Relief for ‘a million daily commuters' as NSW government and rail unions reach pay deal after months at odds
The New South Wales government has reached an agreement with the rail unions, ending months of negotiations and industrial action. The proposed enterprise agreement will see about 13,000 rail workers receive a 12% pay increase over three years, plus back pay. 'This agreement will bring relief to the disruption from protected industrial action that a million daily rail commuters have been forced to endure while just trying to get to work and get around,' the NSW transport minister, John Graham said in a statement on Friday. The agreement also includes technology-based solutions to improve recovery times when there are incidents on the tracks, including a new digital disruption management system that will replace the manual phone call system. There will be a mechanism for the union to progressively escalate to subject matter experts if there are safety concerns related to a new project. The NSW government said on Friday that the combined rail unions have agreed to support the rollout and other changes to reduce time lost to delays. 'This process has strained the patience of train passengers but in finalising this deal we have made a very important investment in reliability. 'This much-needed reset allows us to implement improvements for passengers with the full support of the rail workforce and unions. The agreement, if commenced after a successful ballot of employees, will bring to an about a year of negotiations and work stoppages since the last agreement lapsed in May 2024. The NSW government said one outstanding clause remains that the ETU does not support, and the Fair Work Commission is working to resolve, but said it does not affect the agreement with the combined rail unions. The unions had sought a 32% pay rise over four years, compared with the government's starting offer of 9.5% over three years. The 12% offer was first made in February. According to Transport for NSW, an average Sydney Trains driver earns about $128,000 a year– factoring in common overtime and allowances – while a guard on the network earns about $115,000. The Rail, Tram and Bus Union counters that the average base salary for a Sydney Trains driver is just over $78,000. The latest data from the ABS, released in August 2024, puts median earnings at $72,592 a year.
ABC News
7 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Australian Catholic Bishops want a fair wage for Australia's working people
The election of Pope Leo XIV is having an immediate and concrete effect in Australia – but in a way you might not have imagined. In the Fair Work Commission, the country's Catholic bishops are pushing for a major pay increase for the lowest paid workers. And they're using a famous statement from one of Pope Leo's predecessors – Leo XIII – way back in 1891. Professor Tom Barnes is an economist with the Australian Catholic University. He helped write and present the submission.
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Wages set to rise for millions of Australians as Anthony Albanese confirms backing for 'cost of living' pay bump
Anthony Albanese is backing a generous pay increase for Australia's lowest-paid workers. The federal government has made a submission to the Fair Work Commission recommending a real wage increase for the three million Australians either on the minimum wage or an award, from July 1. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and new Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth said this was about helping Australia's lowest-paid workers. 'This will help around three million workers across the country, including cleaners, retail workers and early childhood educators,' they said. 'Boosting wages, cutting taxes for every taxpayer and creating more jobs are central parts of our efforts to help Australians with the cost of living.' Australia's lowest paid last year received a 3.75 per cent increase that saw the minimum wage rise to $24.10 an hour or $915.90 a week. The industrial umpire's decision was made in June last year when headline inflation was at 3.6 per cent, which meant only a small real wage increase of 0.15 per cent. But in the year to March, wages rose by 3.4 per cent when the consumer price index was at 2.4 per cent - meaning a real wage increase for most workers of one per cent.
