Newly-appointed FWC expert panel members Marian Baird and Mark Cully will serve on this year's crucial minimum wage case bench, as inflation substantially outpaces pay growth and the Reserve Bank continues to warn against the prospect of a wage-price spiral.
Users can register now for the FWC's new digital tool to integrate minimum award rates of pay, allowances, overtime and penalty rates data into accounting software and payroll systems, ahead of its March 20 launch, while the tribunal is also about to release a range of other "digital transformation" initiatives.
Then Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese's call for a 5.1% pay rise for the lowest-paid ahead of the May federal election confirmed Labor as the party for working Australians, offered a closing contrast between the Morrison Government and a better future under the ALP, according to Labor's post-poll review.
The nexus between low unemployment and rising wages is broken, with the "hydraulic pressure" of a tight labour market undermined by systemic "leaks" and "loopholes", according to workplace relations minister Tony Burke.
A UK national living wage review has found that while the NLW's introduction has not caused job losses, the expected productivity gains have failed to materialise.
The FWC's minimum wage panel has given Prime Minister Anthony Albanese until Friday to lodge a submission to this year's annual wage review, but has asked him to keep it to 10 pages.
The UK Low Pay Commission has increased its wage floor by 6.6% to £9.50 ($16.80) as part of its plan to raise the minimum to two-thirds of median earnings by 2024.
Unions have today told the FWC's minimum wage panel that their biggest concern is that low-paid workers will go "further backwards" in the coming year due to continuing inflation and price increases.
In the face of criticism from a peak employer body, Labor has maintained its support for an increase in the minimum wage matching the current inflation rate of 5.1%, while hinting that it will make further announcements before the Federal election on Saturday week.
