Unions push for $27-a-week minimum pay rise, employer groups not impressed

The Australian Industry Group says unions are putting jobs at risk by pushing for a $27-a-week increase in the minimum wage.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions will push for the rise after the minimum wage was frozen last year at $543.78, although ACTUS secretary Jeff Lawrence says average ordinary wages rose 3% or $61.10 over the same period.

“Without a catch up in minimum wages these low-paid workers will slip further behind, further increasing income inequality,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra yesterday.

“That’s bad for the economy, that’s bad for workforce participation and that’s bad for productivity growth.”

But AIG chief Heather Ridout says the economy recovery is too patchy to sustain such an increase.

The ACTU is getting ahead of itself with its minimum wage claim and in doing so putting at risk the jobs of the very people it is trying to help,” Australian Industry Group Chief Executive Heather Ridout said today.

“The idea of a minimum wage catch up is fanciful given the experience of the past 12 months, and being too ambitious about wages during the next 12 months would be a bad idea.”

While both the AIG and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry support some increase in the minimum wage, their figure is likely to be much smaller than the $27-a-week the ACTU is suggesting.

According to a report in The Australia, the ACCI will push for an increase of around $12-a-week.