ACTU aims for huge award wages increases
The Annual Wage Review is underway and the ACTU is claiming a 7.2% increase to all award wage and salary rates. Given the ACTU has cheer squads in both the parliament and the Reserve Bank for a lift in wage rates, the likelihood of another hefty pay rise like last year is strong.
For a while now, the federal government and opposition, along with the RBA and others, have been making noises about the need for higher wages. The last budget was framed in the expectation that wages would rise.
Employers with agreements or employment contracts that have salary rises clauses tied to this annual review need to brace themselves for another whack come 1st July.
Pay rises track inflation rate
Private sector pay rises and the Consumer Price Index are hand in hand at 1.9%, according to the Bureau of Statistics.
These figures refer to overall increases in private sector pay rates. In EBAs, pay rises are a little higher, running on average at around 2.4% at the end of the year.
The trifecta of low wage rises, low inflation and low interest rates was, until recently, seen as a sign of stability and predictability - a good outcome rather than a state of affairs to be rectified.
That narrative has changed, although so far it is only talk. Come July though, things might start to change.