ACTU: Protect living standards

The living standards of the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers must be protected as Australia faces an economic slowdown this year, say unions.

Clamping down on the minimum wage would be counter-productive by dampening consumer spending at a time when the government is trying to stimulate domestic demand to prevent the downturn from worsening, said ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence.

It would also be inequitable to expect workers who are totally dependent on the wage safety net to have a cut in their real income when they are already struggling to make ends meet, he said.

Mr Lawrence urged the head of the Fair Pay Commission, Ian Harper, to be careful when considering the needs of low-paid workers.

“Professor Harper knows that if the minimum wage does not rise, people will leave the labour force and go onto the unemployment rolls,” Mr Lawrence said.

“It would be a mistake for him to listen to the discredited and utterly predictable arguments from employers that a modest increase in the minimum wage will lead to unemployment.

“Last year, the lowest paid gained a pay rise of just 57 cents an hour from the commission. That was hardly a great extra burden on business and despite the scaremongering of employer groups, employment has risen every year since 1996, unaffected by increases in the minimum wage.

“Unions will be responsible in their wage claims this year but we will continue to do our job to obtain improved outcomes for Australian workers and we’re certainly not proposing that wages go backwards.”

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