Striking NSW paramedics and hospital workers will on Thursday add to mounting pressure on the Perrottet Government to ditch its 2.5% cap on public sector pay rises, deliver a significant catch-up increase, update awards and open up productivity-based bargaining.
Victoria's Andrews Labor Government is calling for an increase of at least the CPI - currently 3.5% - to the federal minimum wage and all modern award rates on the basis that consumer price inflation movements mean anything less would be a pay cut.
A large employer organisation has called for the FWC to award minimum pay rises of 2.5% to 3% to help maintain living standards amid rising inflation, albeit with pay rises delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.
Qantas will grant 1000 share rights to 20,000 employees, who endured 18-month stand-downs and are subject to two-year wage freezes, but the TWU says its forecast rapid post-pandemic recovery shows the airline's' "illegal outsourcing and attacks on workers under the cover of covid" were unwarranted.
Private sector rates of pay excluding bonuses increased by 2.4% annually in the December quarter, unchanged from the September quarter, but accelerated slightly over the last three months of the year, according to the ABS.
The Perrottet Government says it is looking at "some further recognition" of the work performed by NSW nurses and midwives without prompting other public sector wage claims above its 2.5% annual cap.
A spike in consumer price inflation, confirmed by the ABS today, might combine with labour shortages to put pressure on wage rises, which remain near historic lows.
The Federal Court has today refused the TWU's bid for reinstatement of some 2000 ground-handling workers who had their jobs outsourced by the airline at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Federal Court has dismissed an attempt for a group of wharfies to maintain their wages until their challenge against a COVID-19 vaccination mandate is decided at trial.
