Fair Pay Commission Decision Lets The Battlers Down

Catholic Social Services Australia's Executive Director, Frank Quinlan, said yesterday's minimum wage increase would do little to alleviate the financial hardship experienced by Australia's lowest paid workers.

Mr Quinlan said the decision by the Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) to increase the minimum wage by a mere $10.26 a week focuses on the needs of employers and ignores the cost pressures experienced by low-paid workers and their families.

"In setting wages, the AFPC has a statutory obligation to consider the provision of a ‘safety net' for low paid workers and their families," Mr Quinlan said.

"The ‘safety net' is the guarantee of a just wage ensuring human dignity for low-paid Australian workers. It can best be determined by looking at the actual needs and cost pressures experienced by low-paid workers and their families.

"The AFPC finds that the combination of wages and Government transfer payments provides a sufficient safety net for low-paid workers and their families. The AFPC has not provided convincing evidence to support this finding. Our position echoes criticism made by the Australian Catholic Council on Employment Relations (ACCER) of this finding.

"None of the research commissioned by the AFPC has focused primarily on the needs of low-paid workers.

"We call on the AFPC to commission - and factor into its future decision-making - detailed and ongoing research on the needs of low-paid workers and their families. Such research could build on previous work undertaken by the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.

"On another matter the 2007 Decision's deferral of some wage increases for ‘farm businesses most severely affected by drought' is seriously concerning - especially as a precedent for future deferrals.

"Why are some of Australia's lowest paid workers being forced to subsidise their employers?

"Why is it assumed that employees of hard-hit businesses have not themselves been hard-hit by drought, and why should those employees incur the additional penalty of foregoing even the small increase this Decision has awarded to other low-paid workers?

"And if additional support is required to assist farmers and others affected by the drought, why should this not be borne by the deeper pockets of all taxpayers?

"Many questions remain unanswered about how minimum wages are set in this country.

"When the Commission made its first decision in October last year, Catholic Social Services Australia expressed concern about how the Commission arrived at its decision and the precedent this might set for future decisions.

"The detail is still unclear and our concerns remain.

"It is essential that the community debates issues affecting future economic prosperity - especially the financial security of unemployed people and low-paid employees and their families.

"We call on the AFPC to commission and publish the information required to inform that debate," Mr Quinlan said.

Catholic Social Services Australia provides services to over a million Australians each year.

CONTACT: Judith Tokley 02 6282 4307 / 0408 824 306