Some employers will be forced to pay wage rises as high as 7 per cent because they signed off on union agreements that tied workers’ pay to the June inflation figure.
Engineering and technical workers working for contractor Applus at Woodside’s north-west operations struck an agreement in September last year that delivered them wage rises of 2.5 per cent or, if greater, Western Australia’s Consumer Price Index as of June.
“The blood, sweat and tears of our Applus Woodside Facility members has once again paid off with a likely pay increase of 8 per cent in the second year of the agreement,” the alliance posted to members in anticipation of the CPI data earlier this month.
About 2800 meat workers at Teys in Queensland have already received pay rises of 6 per cent because wage increases under their Australian Meat Industry Employees Union agreement were tied to Brisbane’s CPI from the March quarter.Those CPI pay arrangements were replicated in Teys sheds in NSW and South Australia, delivering pay rises of 4.4 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.
“Working Australians are receiving huge pay cuts in real terms, while big businesses are lining their pockets with record-high profits,” she said.“We can’t expect Australians to spend their hard-earned money on discretionary items if they can barely afford the necessities. We need fair and equitable wages and we need them now.”