NEW FAIR WORK MINIMUM WAGE RISE HELPS 130,000 LOW PAID AUSTRALIAN WORKERS

3 June 2010

Today's pay increase awarded by the Fair Pay Commission of $26 a week for minimum wage earners is a major victory for fairness and an example of the benefit of getting rid of WorkChoices.

The decision is the first under the new federal fair work laws and ends an 18 month wage freeze.

SA Unions Secretary, Janet Giles says an extra $26 a week in the pay packets of South Australia's 130,000 low paid workers will take their wage to $570.00 a week.

"This is welcome news for workers in industries such as retail, hospitality, cleaning, community services, hairdressing, labouring and agriculture.  Under John Howard's WorkChoices wage setting system, they were denied a pay rise during the last wage case.  It meant the low paid had to struggle even harder to meet the rising cost of living."

"Now that the vast majority of SA workers are covered under the new federal Fair Work Laws, this decision is even more important than in the past.  This new system has reinstated fairness and cost of living as key considerations in setting low paid workers wages" Ms Giles says.

"Although $570 is still a low age and it remains difficult to bring a family up on this money, the decision goes a long way towards restoring equity and fairness into our economy."

"It further demonstrates the importance of rejecting Tony Abbott's thinly veiled plans to reinstate the worst aspects of WorkChoices under a different slogan.  Under WorkChoices, fairness and the cost of living weren't considered.  Under the new work laws, they are."

"It's why Australian workers are realising that when it comes to Tony Abbott and WorkChoices, it's a case of "whatever the name, never again".  A decent living wage is fundamental to a fair society and strong economy", Ms Giles says.