Treasurer Jim Chalmers says that inflation is likely to peak at 7.75% in the December quarter then decline over the next two years, while real wage rises will return next financial year, but the ACTU says the forecast only "deepens" the pay crisis, with the resumption of growth in mid-2024 meaning workers will have suffered four years of going backwards.
The Queensland Government appears to be continuing the rollout of its revised public sector wages policy, reaching an in-principle deal with the State's teachers that will deliver 11% in pay rises over three years, plus "cost of living top-up payments" of up to 3% a year.
A proposed new agreement for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition provides substantial upfront pay rises and entitlements to five days paid climate disaster leave, 30 days paid gender affirmation leave and 12% super contributions, while it replaces workplace breastfeeding provisions with "chestfeeding" rights.
The NSW Opposition has promised today that if it takes power at the March election, it will scrap the decade-old public sector wages cap and replace it with a productivity-based bargaining system.
In the wake of the RBA governor's warning about the risks of a wage-price spiral, new A-G's department data shows that bargained pay rises are flatlining at 2.7% a year in the private sector, rising at little more than half the 5.1% rate of headline consumer price inflation.
The legislative changes five years ago to permit the FWC to overlook minor flaws in bargaining notices have failed to save an agreement for an indigenous health organisation.
The FSU is seeking annual pay rises of 6% in bargaining at both Westpac and NAB, arguing the hefty increases are justified by the inflation spike and the major banks' continuing strong profits.
A FWC senior member who once served as Fortescue's HR manager has observed in the course of granting its bid to transfer outsourced workers to a direct-employment deal that doing the same work for lesser conditions "inevitably" leads to discontent and would be "unfair".
The NTEU says its decision to boost university pay claims from 12% over three years to 15% reflects new realities of skyrocketing inflation and workloads that are going "through the roof" following mass job losses during the height of the pandemic.
NSW public school teachers will strike next Wednesday over "unmanageable" workloads and a "contemptuous" 2.04% salary cap proposed in the face of teacher shortages, with their union also warning that visits by State Government MPs will prompt walkouts.
