Working Australians get a $26 a week dividend for end of WorkChoices
Today’s pay decision from Fair Work Australia for 1.4 million award-dependent workers breaks the drought after a wage freeze of almost two years under the Howard Government’s wage-setting tribunal.
03 June 2010 [full story]
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Minimum wage case hearing today: award workers must share in the economic recovery
A resurgent Australian economy with forecasts of strong GDP and jobs growth over the next two years makes the case for a decent rise to minimum wages even more compelling, say unions.
17 May 2010 [full story]
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Call by big business for two years-plus pay freeze is driven by greed and self-interest
The demand by big businesses for a two year delay in any wage rise for about 1.4 million workers would drive down living standards and harm the economy, say unions.
19 March 2010 [full story]
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Low paid workers must share in the economic recovery; unions to seek $27 a week wage rise
Unions will seek a $27 a week pay rise for workers on minimum wages who deserve their fair share of the economic recovery after unfairly shouldering the burden of the downturn.
17 March 2010 [full story]
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Gender pay gap set to widen following freeze on wages for the low-paid
The gap between men’s and women’s pay will widen following last week’s decision to freeze the minimum wage, say unions. Women are over-represented among the low-paid, and the adverse decision by the Australian Fair Pay Commission will worsen inequality, said ACTU President Sharan Burrow.
13 July 2009 [full story]
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Working Australians to suffer as WorkChoices-era pay commission saves its worst for last
Today’s decision by the soon-to-be-scrapped ‘Fair Pay Commission’ to freeze the Federal minimum wage and all other award wage rates is another kick in the teeth for working Australians from the Liberals’ WorkChoices. ASU National Secretary Paul Slape said, "We are outraged by this decision, especially as it comes at such a time of severe hardship for many workers and even runs diametrically opposite to the Federal Government's stimulus policies."
07 July 2009 [full story]
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Unions push for $21 a week pay rise for low-paid workers to stimulate economy and safeguard jobs
Unions are seeking a $21 a week pay rise for workers on minimum wages to protect jobs by maintaining the purchasing power of working families and stimulate the economy.
23 March 2009 [full story]
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Minimum wages must be protected to prevent low-paid becoming US-style working poor
The living standards of the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers must be protected as Australia faces an economic slowdown this year, say unions.
12 January 2009 [full story]
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Minimum wage pay decision begins to repair damage done by WorkChoices
Today’s pay decision for more than a million award-dependent workers has begun to address some of the damage caused by WorkChoices, but more needs to be done, according to the ACTU.
08 July 2008 [full story]
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Pay commissioner pockets 53% pay rise over two years: workers hope for same
A decision by the Remuneration Tribunal to give public office holders a 4.3% pay rise from 1 July 2008 sets the benchmark for what low paid working Australians should at least expect from the forthcoming Fair Pay Commission minimum wage case decision says the ACTU.
13 June 2008 [full story]
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Job & wages data show ‘coast is clear’ for $26 a week pay rise for low paid workers
The latest ABS jobs data and Government wages figures show that despite a tight job market there is no wages pressure on inflation and that the coast is clear for a $26 a week pay rise for low paid Australian workers say unions.
11 April 2008 [full story]
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Unions reject employer bid for pay cuts - low paid workers must get decent pay rise
As submissions closed last Friday for the Fair Pay Commission’s 2008 minimum wage deliberations, the ACTU repeated its call for a $26 a week pay rise for the low paid, rejecting bids by employer groups for real pay cuts for minimum wage workers.
17 March 2008 [full story]
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Give low paid workers $26 a week pay rise
ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence will announce for the first time today (Wednesday) that unions will seek a $26 a week pay rise for 1.6 million Australian workers that rely on minimum award wages in this year’s national Minimum Wage Case.
12 March 2008 [full story]
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Workers win $10 while pay commissioner pockets $38,000
News that pay commissioner Professor Ian Harper pocketed a $38,000 pay rise last year while award wage workers got a measly $10 a week is proof that the former Howard Government’s Work Choices IR laws favoured big business and executives at the expense of ordinary workers say unions.
28 February 2008 [full story]
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Fair Pay Commission gets it wrong — wages for most low paid workers fall in real terms
Wages for around 1.5 million low paid workers reliant on awards fell below the rate of inflation last year says the ACTU.
25 February 2008 [full story]
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CEO gets $22 million bonus while award workers get real pay cut under WorkChoices
The fact that Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo will get a $22 million pay packet this year while one million working families will get a real pay cut of up to $800 shows the unfairness of the Howard Government’s WorkChoices IR laws said the ACTU.
08 November 2007 [full story]
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Real wages go backwards under WorkChoices: Harvester decision anniversary
A new ACTU analysis shows that the award wages for more than a million low paid workers have gone backwards by up to $15.67 a week -- or $814 a year -- in real terms under the Howard Government's WorkChoices. The analysis shows that the pay rise that workers reliant on award minimum wages got in October by the Howard Government's Fair Pay Commission did not meet increases in the cost of living.
05 November 2007 [full story]
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Get ready to say good bye to the minimum wage
A decision by the Federal Government's pay setting body late yesterday (Thurs 16 Aug.) to scrap guaranteed minimum wages for property salespeople and allow commission-only payments is a dangerous precedent that could spell the beginning of the end for minimum award wages in Australia says the ACTU.
17 August 2007 [full story]
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CPI lift pushes working families backwards: Govt's economic credentials now in tatters
The Howard Government's economic credentials are in tatters with a higher than expected lift in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) pushing the living standards of many working families backwards says the ACTU.
25 July 2007 [full story]
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Tassie state minimum wage now higher than federal minimum wage
Around twenty two thousand Tasmanians on State Awards, including many social and community sector workers, will be over $22 a week better off from 1 August 2007 as a result of a decision of the Tasmanian Industrial Commission to increase the Tasmanian minimum wage to $527.10.
20 July 2007 [full story]
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Living standards of working families will go backwards from pay decision
Yesterday's pay rise for award workers, the lowest in ten years, is below the rate of inflation and means the living standards of many working Australians will go backwards says the ACTU.
06 July 2007 [full story]
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Lowest pay rise for 10 years
Today's pay rise for award workers is the lowest rise in minimum wages for ten years and shows the Fair Pay Commission has only listened to big employer groups and the Howard Government says the ACTU.
05 July 2007 [full story]
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ACTU calls for $28 a week pay rise for over one million award workers
The ACTU has today called for a pay rise of $28 a week for more than a million award workers to reverse the slide in living standards that Australia’s working families are experiencing under the new IR laws.
30 March 2007 [full story]
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Low paid win $27 per week increase
The Australian Fair Pay Commission today handed down its first wages decision, in which it decided to award a significant increase of $27.36 per week to the Federal Minimum wage and to minimum ‘award’ rates of pay below $700 per week and an increase of $22.04 per week to rates above $700. It operates from 1 December 2006.
26 October 2006 [full story]
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New ABS wages data: increase minimum wages by $30 or risk leaving low-paid behind, ACTU tells Pay Commission
ACTU Secretary Greg Combet said that wages data released today shows that the Federal Government's new Pay Commission must increase minimum wages by at least $30 a week or risk leaving low paid workers and their families behind.
16 August 2006 [full story]
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Low paid workers in TAS, NSW, WA & SA get wage rise
The NSW & WA Industrial Commissions have today granted Union applications to increase wages for workers on State awards by $20 per week. Unions in all States where State industrial tribunals still exist have applied for safety net wage increases for award dependent workers (that is, those workers not on enterprise agreements) to protect them against erosion of their living standards.
26 June 2006 [full story]
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Federal Govt wage freeze for workers
A Federal Government "wage freeze" for more than 1.6 million award paid workers started this week.
08 June 2006 [full story]
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ASU joins push to lift pay by 4% for workers on minimum wage
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) will today lodge a 4% pay claim for Australia's lowest paid workers. If the claim is granted by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) it would lift the minimum wage for full time adult workers to above $500 a week for the first time.
21 September 2005 [full story]
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2005 Minimum Wage increases begin to flow
The first ASU award to be changed as a result of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission's 2005 "Minimum Wage" decision of June 7 was varied today. Each year the ACTU, supported by all unions, campaigns for an increase in award wages to protect the level of the income 'safety net' which applies to workers who rely solely on awards for their pay and conditions.
16 June 2005 [full story]
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$17 national wage increase - The last for Australian workers?
Early today the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) handed down what is likely to be its last national wage case decision granting Australia's award workers $17 per week.
07 June 2005 [full story]
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Get involved in the fight to save workplace rights
The next national wage case decision is due within weeks. Under John Howard’s new workplace laws it will be the last time that the independent Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) will make a national wage case decision. The Government is taking this power away from the AIRC.
31 May 2005 [full story]
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Digest of news items on Minimum Wage and Living Wage
For news items dated earlier than 2005, please see below.
01 January 2005 [full story]
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