Unions Seek Quick Rise In Pay Rates
The Age
Friday February 22, 2008
UNION leaders are resisting calls for wage restraint by saying wages need to grow, and quickly, adding to Government fears about inflation.
Wage increases needed to be at least 5% a year, "if not more", Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd said. He said workers had shown wage restraint long enough under the Howard government.He rejected suggestions that wage increases should be traded for measures such as higher superannuation. "We treat them both separately," Mr Boyd said. "Both areas require catch-up."The ACTU has also signalled that its minimum wage claim, to be finalised next month, will argue that employees need to regain lost ground, which could see a claim figure above inflation.As concerns grow about the tight labour market and inflation, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Wednesday everyone in the economy needed to exercise "restraint". Wages growth last year was 4.2%, but many unions want more.In Victoria, public-sector wage negotiations involving teachers and medical scientists have become bogged down over pay and conditions while the Victorian building industry fears it faces wage claims of at least 5% a year.Numerous enterprise bargaining agreements are set to expire at the end of next month and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has signalled it wants to see wages and superannuation boosted, not a trade-off between the two.Master Builders Association of Victoria executive director Brian Welch said that there needed to be productivity gains in the industry for wage claims to be given "serious consideration".National Union of Workers state secretary Antony Thow said that times were "incredibly tough" for his members, with rising living costs, which would be a factor in negotiations."It all depends on what a business can tolerate and what our members want at a local level," he said of negotiations for the more than 20,000 NUW members whose agreements expire this year in Victoria.That covers more than 300 work sites in areas as diverse as food manufacturing, market research and distribution.AMWU Victorian secretary Steve Dargavel said that suppressing wages was not the solution to combating inflation.He said the employee share of profits was lower than 10 years ago.Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said Australia was facing "a massive inflation crisis".He has said the Federal Government should allow people to opt out of the tax cuts and have the money go into superannuation.LINK? For more on wages dates, go to www.abs.gov.au
© 2008 The Age