Fair Work Commission Raises Weekly Minimum Wage By Enough For A Six-Pack


Good news for Australia’s 1.5 million workers currently receiving minimum wage: the Fair Work Commission has just approved a $15.80 per week pay rise from $606.40 to $622.20, a 2.6% increase giving low paid workers the means with which to purchase a six pack of cool beverages or a ticket to a 3D screening of The Great Gatsby [which you’d have to watch without the 3D glasses; sorry, you’re still $2.20 short].

The increase is just over half of the $30 (or 7%) increase the ACTU were pushing for; a little more than the $5.80 businesses were willing to concede and slightly less than the $17.10 the minimum wage was increased by last year.
Justice Iain Ross this morning told the hearing that one of the factors leading to commission’s decision included an expected increase in the unemployment rate over the next year. The commission also rejected the trade union’s request to raise the minimum wage in accordance with different pay grades.
The increase will come into effect from July 1st. 
New fiscal year, new you. 
via The ABC/SMH

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