ACTU secretary Dave Oliver says struggling workers need wages to keep up with the cost of living.. Picture: Stuart Mcevoy Source: PerthNow
UNIONS are demanding a $30-a-week pay increase for Australia's lowest-paid workers.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions will lodge an official pay claim this week to bring the minimum wage to $16.75 an hour.
The unions say that Australia is at risk of creating a working poor similar to America's because of the low minimum wage.
But employers hit back, saying the pay claim was economically irresponsible and would result in job losses because companies could not afford the rise.
The ACTU's demand would boost the minimum weekly wage to $636.40, a 4.2 per cent increase, for 1.5 million workers.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said struggling workers needed wages to keep up with the cost of living.
"We are seeking a $30 pay rise for (low-paid workers) this year," he said. "Any further decline in the relative living standards of low-paid workers will put in jeopardy the concept of a fair safety net of minimum wages."
He said businesses could afford the "fair and reasonable" pay increase.
"Last year's disappointing decision by the Fair Work Commission pushed us further towards the creation of an American-style class of working poor."
The Fair Work Commission makes a decision on increases to the minimum wage each year and seeks submissions from unions and business groups.
Workers received a $17.10 weekly pay rise in June, bringing the current minimum to $15.96 an hour.
But Daniel Mammone, director of workplace policy at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the claim was "economically irresponsible".
"This across-the-board claim is excessive in the current economic circumstances," he said.
"If the commission accepts the union's claim, this will have a negative impact on customers, employee hours and owner operators."
Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, said businesses were struggling with rising superannuation costs and the high Australian dollar.
"The wage increase proposed by the ACTU is ambit, fanciful and out of touch with the reality of the current economic environment," he said.
"Any wage increase awarded by the Minimum Wage Panel this year needs to be moderate and sustainable, and the ACTU claim is neither. Such a claim, if granted, would destroy jobs not create them."
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