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Issue No. 282 | 23 September 2005 |
Highway To Help
Interview: Polar Eclipse Industrial: Wrong Turn Unions: Star Support Workplace: Checked Out Economics: Sold Out Politics: Green Banned History: Potted History International: Curtain Call Review: Little Fish Poetry: Slug A Worker
'Drama Queen' Court Out ... Again Work Law Refugee Turns On Howard Mushroom Mum Gets Satisfaction Builders Skirt Apprentice Claim
The Soapbox The Locker Room Parliament Postcard
Latham Lament Missed the Mark
Labor Council of NSW |
Politics Howard Threatens Wage Umpire
Federal workplace relations minister Kevin Andrews says that even if the Australian Industrial Relations Commission hears the ACTU's minimum wage case the government will ignore its decision. The ACTU has lodged with the AIRC an application for a four percent pay rise, saying it is needed to maintain the value of minimum wages relative to other workers and to help the lowest paid keep up with rising petrol and living costs. But the Federal Government says it will block the AIRC from awarding a pay rise and will stop the case from going ahead. It wants workers to wait until Howard's Fair Pay Commission starts making decisions at the end of 2006 though says there can be no guarantees any decisions will then be made in favour of employees. ACTU secretary Greg Combet says low paid workers cannot afford to wait 18 months until Howard's Fair Pay Commission starts handing down its first decisions, saying the delay would be tantamount to a wage freeze. "Petrol prices and other rises in the cost of living are putting working families under pressure. Many working people are struggling just to keep their heads above water and yet the Howard Government is offering no prospect of an increase for at least 18 months," Combet says. He says a four percent pay rise represents an increase of $19.38 for people on the minimum wage - lifting their gross income to $503.80 per week. Federal parliamentarians' own base salaries rise once a year, in 2005 jumping 4.1 percent to $111,150 per week or $191,734 for members of Cabinet. The Treasurer and PM are on $208,406 and $288,990 respectively. Parliamentarians are not expected to have a wage freeze on their own take-home pay while Howard's new industrial laws are being introduced. Meanwhile the ACTU is already a step ahead of plans to thwart its case, encouraging state labor councils to run simultaneous claims in their local industrial relations commissions if the AIRC claim is blocked.
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