Don’t believe anyone – not even a governor of the Reserve Bank – trying to tell you the increase in minimum award wages is anything other than good news for the lowest-paid quarter of wage earners.
Business groups warned the wage rise would add to inflation while unions said millions of people still faced a real pay cut.
No one is a winner from the most recent minimum wage increase. It just highlights the need for real economic changes.
More than a year after the Fair Work Commission ruled fruit pickers were entitled to a minimum wage,underpayment is not hard to find in the Goulburn Valley.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says there’s no evidence of wages being a driver of recent high inflation.
The federal government will push for the minimum wage to increase to match high living costs,setting up a clash with businesses.
A 7 per cent increase to the minimum wage would lift the minimum hourly rate to $22.88 – the biggest pay boost in more than 30 years.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said Labor’s values had not changed since its previous submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review,which cautioned against wages going backwards.
Union chiefs are warning of strikes unless pay offers to combat the record drop in real wages are put on the table.
There is demand for Anthony Albanese to say “absolutely” again to a minimum wage hike to meet inflation after he scored a political win by backing a wage rise last year.
Better access to early childhood education is one of the government’s core policies,but the sector worries it will just increase demand when it is already struggling to cope.