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 Home News General
Low Paid Workers Get $19 Extra a Week05 May 2004Unions have won Australia’s 1.6 million low paid workers a pay increase of $19 a week which will take the minimum wage above $12 an hour for the first time. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission today agreed with unions that workers needed a substantial pay rise to reward them for their efforts and keep pace with rising costs. The HSU was one of the key unions involved in the case, run by the ACTU. HSU members working in some aged care facilities, residential care and as Aboriginal health workers will benefit from the increase. Across the country the increase will be received by all workers on award rates who are not covered by enterprise agreements. The HSU national secretary Craig Thomson said the pay increase was a strong result and a reward for the effort put in by union members to build the case for a rise. "This is the only increase that 1.6 million workers get a year and they deserve every cent of it," he said. The ACTU Secretary Greg Combet said: "This decision means low paid workers and their families will take home a bit extra in their pockets each week. It will help make their lives a little bit easier. "Today's pay rise of $19 brings the weekly minimum wage up to $467.40. "For the first time the minimum wage has broken through the ceiling of $12 an hour." However, the decision by the AIRC is a cautious one given the current strength of the Australian economy. Unions and the ACTU argued in the case for a $26.60 a week increase but are pleased with the amount ordered. Mr Combet said the decision however was a clear rebuff for employer groups and the Federal Government who had argued that the lowest paid workers in the country deserved far less. |
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© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
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