Westpac is holding out a $1000 incentive to encourage employees to vote up its proposed agreement that promises a 4% rise in January for employees earning less than $95,000, when inflation is forecast to reach almost 8%, but the FSU says it should be increasing its base pay offer as the union pursues a 6% boost.
Qantas has secured new deals with freight pilots and unlicenced aircraft engineers but the threat of turmoil looms, with licensed engineers voting to stop work, ground crew considering it and the FAAA claiming domestic fight attendants are facing ultimatums.
The FWC has this week approved a new agreement for the Australia Council of Social Service that lifts pay by the 4.6% rise in award minimum rates, provides new paid cultural and First Nations leave and enables employees to take a substitute public holiday for the January 26 "Invasion Day".
A proposed new agreement for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition provides substantial upfront pay rises and entitlements to five days paid climate disaster leave, 30 days paid gender affirmation leave and 12% super contributions, while it replaces workplace breastfeeding provisions with "chestfeeding" rights.
In the wake of the RBA governor's warning about the risks of a wage-price spiral, new A-G's department data shows that bargained pay rises are flatlining at 2.7% a year in the private sector, rising at little more than half the 5.1% rate of headline consumer price inflation.
The FSU is seeking annual pay rises of 6% in bargaining at both Westpac and NAB, arguing the hefty increases are justified by the inflation spike and the major banks' continuing strong profits.
A FWC senior member who once served as Fortescue's HR manager has observed in the course of granting its bid to transfer outsourced workers to a direct-employment deal that doing the same work for lesser conditions "inevitably" leads to discontent and would be "unfair".
As wage stagnation and cost-of-living issues continue to feature in the federal election campaign, a new report shows Australia has experienced the greatest deceleration in real pay growth in the OECD since 2013, despite its relatively strong employment growth and low unemployment, suggesting that policy and institutional factors are the main culprit, rather than market forces.
The NTEU says its decision to boost university pay claims from 12% over three years to 15% reflects new realities of skyrocketing inflation and workloads that are going "through the roof" following mass job losses during the height of the pandemic.
