WAGES – AUSTRALIA

Wesfarmers warns on wages, jobs

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Original article by John Kehoe, Carrie LaFrenz, James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 31-May-23

Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy has told a Senate estimates hearing that there are no signs that a wage-price spiral is emerging in Australia. He added that it is usual for wages growth to accelerate during an upswing in the economic cycle. Meanwhile, Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott has warned that increasing the minimum wage by more than five per cent would deter businesses from investing and taking on additional staff. He adds that other risks to the economy include the federal government’s second tranche of industrial relations reforms and the Victorian government’s payroll tax changes. The Fair Work Commission is slated to announce its decision on the minimum wage increase on Friday.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Underpayment rife among migrant workers

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Original article by Tom McIlroy, Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 24-May-23

Research from the Grattan Institute has concluded that up to 16 per cent of recent migrants to Australia are being paid less than the minimum wage. This equates to around 82,000 workers; the research also suggests that up to 42,000 recent migrants are being underpaid by at least $3 an hour. Migrant workers were found to be vulnerable to many forms of exploitation apart from wage underpayment, such as unpaid leave, superannuation and penalty rates, cash-back arrangements, racism and sexual harassment. The Institute has made 27 recommendations to protect workers from exploitation.

CORPORATES
GRATTAN INSTITUTE

Pay rises to cool but wage bills bite

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: B5 : 10-May-23

Treasury had forecast 2023-24 inflation of 3.50 per cent in October, but has lowered its prediction to 3.25 per cent in the 9 May budget papers. Wages growth is expected to be at four per cent in 2023-24,compared to Treasury’s forecast of 3.25 per cent growth in October. However, it did not revise its wages growth forecast for 2024 to 2027, expecting pay rises to remain at 3.25 per cent over that period. Meanwhile, Cairns restaurant Wild Thyme operations manager Catherine Pacey said she had decided in December to close the cafe on Sundays and Mondays, because Mondays are quite quiet and wages are quite high on Sundays

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Workers miss out as gulf between wages and inflation widens

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Original article by Sezen Bakan
The New Daily – Page: Online : 6-Mar-23

Seek senior economist Matt Cowgill says Australia may have already seen the peak of its salary growth, with the Seek Advertised Salary Index rising by just 0.2 per cent from December to January; it was the second month in a row that growth had slowed. Real wages had their biggest fall on record in 2022, while Greg Jericho from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work claims the link between company profits and wages has weakened; he contends that industrial relations policy for the last 20 years has been all about low wages growth

CORPORATES
SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED. CENTRE FOR FUTURE WORK

Real wages growth story is an ugly one

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 4 : 18-Jan-23

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has talked up the fact that wages grew by 3.1 per cent in the year to November. This was the fastest growth in wages since September 2013, and Chalmers has highlighted the fact that average wage growth has been just 2.3 per cent annually over the last decade. However, an inflation rate of 7.3 per cent means that real wages shrank by 4.2 per cent in the year to September, and average annual real wage growth over the last decade was just 0.4 per cent. The Treasury and the Reserve Bank do not anticipate real wage growth until 2024.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Universities on workplace watchdog’s wage theft priority list

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Original article by Angus Thompson
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 22-Jun-22

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker says wage underpayment has become a systemic issue in Australia’s tertiary education sector. The FWO is investigating 11 of the nation’s universities for potentially underpaying their staff. Parker says the high level of casual staff at universities is also a major concern. The National Tertiary Education Union’s president Alison Barnes says wage theft in universities is "out of control". Wage theft in the higher education sector will be one of the FWO’s priorities in 2022-23, along with the fast food, hospitality and agricultural industries.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION

Wage hikes ‘risk economy’: Lowe

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 22-Jun-22

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has downplayed the prospect of a recession, noting that the nation’s economic fundamentals are strong and the jobless rate is at a five-decade low. However, Lowe has warned of the need for wage restraint, arguing that across-the-board pay rises of five per cent or more could see high inflation become entrenched. He contends that wage increases of around 3.5 per cent are more appropriate and sustainable in the current environment. Lowe has also reiterated his view that inflation will peak at around seven per cent before falling in early 2023, but he cautions that it will not return to the RBA’s target range of 2-3 per cent for some time.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Aged care wages should be Labor’s ‘first priority’: HSU boss

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Original article by Angus Thompson
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 26-May-22

The Fair Work Commission has held several weeks of hearings regarding the Health Services Union’s push for a 25 per cent increase in the wages of aged-care workers. The HSU’s national president Gerard Hayes says the federal government’s submission to the wage case should be the new Labor administration’s top priority. Carolyn Smith from the United Workers Union agrees that the issue must be a priority for the government. It was recently estimated that there is a shortage of about 60,000 workers in the aged-care sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, HEALTH SERVICES UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNITED WORKERS UNION

200,000 migrant workers to return over seven months

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Original article by Matthew Elmas
The New Daily – Page: Online : 23-Nov-21

Australia will re-open its international borders to overseas students, skilled visa holders and working holiday makers, with Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews expecting that at least 200,000 migrant workers will arrive in Australia by July. Labour market economist Professor Jeff Borland contends that the return of migrant workers will have a "pronounced impact", and he says research shows that migrant workers are positive for the economy. However, he notes that they tend to be concentrated in certain industries, making it hard for existing workers in those sectors to secure better wages.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Union blasts ABC on management, underpay

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Original article by Miranda Ward
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 1-Oct-21

A review by the ABC has found that current and former staff employed under certain pay categories between 14 July 2014 and 20 July 2021 had been underpaid. The public broadcaster’s announcement that some staff had been underpaid has prompted an attack by the Community & Public Sector Union, which has accused the ABC of having "serious cultural problems", while urging it to rein in the poor management practices that caused the underpayment problems.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION