ID :
169227
Fri, 03/18/2011 - 13:14
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/169227
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Unions seek $28 minimum wage rise
SYDNEY (AAP) - March 18 - Vietnamese migrant Loan earns a miserly $3 per hour sewing garments from her Melbourne home, in what unions describe as "sweatshop-like" conditions.
She is one of 1.4 million Australians hoping the ACTU is successful in its push for a $28 per week rise in the minimum wage.
Loan, who did not want to give her full name, spoke at the launch of the ACTU submission on Friday, saying she toils seven days a week for a wage she barely survives on.
"I've worked in this industry for three years, I've been working really hard seven days a week and I earn about three dollars an hour," she said through an interpreter.
"I'm a single mum raising one kid. I have to pay rent, it goes up, it's so hard for me."
A truck drops off the material and then picks up the garments Loan has made and illegally pays her per piece at an average of $3 per hour, rather than the minimum hourly rate.
The Textile Clothing and Footwear Union is investigating Loan's case and hopes she will soon be paid the minimum wage.
Joe Dejdar, who works with homeless people, struggles to get by on an award wage.
He said he has watched his wife's nursing wage grow rapidly in comparison to his own.
"When we first started our occupations some 20 years ago ... we were pretty much on the same wage. My wife now earns double what I do," he said.
"Health cover has just gone up, electricity, you name it."
ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said low-paid workers needed relief from cost-of-living increases.
The ACTU claim would see the full-time minimum wage lifted from $569.90 to $597.90 a week, or $15.74 per hour.
Mr Lawrence said the average Australian income had jumped 21 per cent in real terms since 2000, while the real value of the minimum wage had risen by just 7.1 per cent.
"This claim is modest, it's affordable, the state of the economy means that employers can pay it," he said.
The federal government backs an increase, but would not specify what that should be.
"We know plenty of Australians are doing it tough, particularly those on modest incomes, and we need to ensure cost-of-living pressures are taken into account by Fair Work Australia," Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement on Friday.
But employers have rubbished the ACTU submission.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for a $9.50 rise.
The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) proposed a $14 minimum rise, postponed for six months until January 2012 for employers hit by the Queensland and Victorian floods.
"The Australian economy is emerging from the global financial crisis in better shape than most other advanced economies but slowed in the second half of 2010 and has been adversely affected by the severe weather events," Ai Group chief executive Heather Ridout said.
Mr Lawrence said $14 would represent an increase below the CPI and dismissed the calls for flood exception.
The ACTU claim is two tiered, with a flat $28 rise for minimum wage workers and a 4.2 per cent rise for more skilled workers who rely on award wages, which could equate to as much as a $37.70 for some.
Mr Lawrence said the ACTU would make supplementary submissions before Fair Work Australia handed down its decision in June.
Fair Work Australia delivered a $26-per-week rise last year.
She is one of 1.4 million Australians hoping the ACTU is successful in its push for a $28 per week rise in the minimum wage.
Loan, who did not want to give her full name, spoke at the launch of the ACTU submission on Friday, saying she toils seven days a week for a wage she barely survives on.
"I've worked in this industry for three years, I've been working really hard seven days a week and I earn about three dollars an hour," she said through an interpreter.
"I'm a single mum raising one kid. I have to pay rent, it goes up, it's so hard for me."
A truck drops off the material and then picks up the garments Loan has made and illegally pays her per piece at an average of $3 per hour, rather than the minimum hourly rate.
The Textile Clothing and Footwear Union is investigating Loan's case and hopes she will soon be paid the minimum wage.
Joe Dejdar, who works with homeless people, struggles to get by on an award wage.
He said he has watched his wife's nursing wage grow rapidly in comparison to his own.
"When we first started our occupations some 20 years ago ... we were pretty much on the same wage. My wife now earns double what I do," he said.
"Health cover has just gone up, electricity, you name it."
ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said low-paid workers needed relief from cost-of-living increases.
The ACTU claim would see the full-time minimum wage lifted from $569.90 to $597.90 a week, or $15.74 per hour.
Mr Lawrence said the average Australian income had jumped 21 per cent in real terms since 2000, while the real value of the minimum wage had risen by just 7.1 per cent.
"This claim is modest, it's affordable, the state of the economy means that employers can pay it," he said.
The federal government backs an increase, but would not specify what that should be.
"We know plenty of Australians are doing it tough, particularly those on modest incomes, and we need to ensure cost-of-living pressures are taken into account by Fair Work Australia," Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement on Friday.
But employers have rubbished the ACTU submission.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for a $9.50 rise.
The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) proposed a $14 minimum rise, postponed for six months until January 2012 for employers hit by the Queensland and Victorian floods.
"The Australian economy is emerging from the global financial crisis in better shape than most other advanced economies but slowed in the second half of 2010 and has been adversely affected by the severe weather events," Ai Group chief executive Heather Ridout said.
Mr Lawrence said $14 would represent an increase below the CPI and dismissed the calls for flood exception.
The ACTU claim is two tiered, with a flat $28 rise for minimum wage workers and a 4.2 per cent rise for more skilled workers who rely on award wages, which could equate to as much as a $37.70 for some.
Mr Lawrence said the ACTU would make supplementary submissions before Fair Work Australia handed down its decision in June.
Fair Work Australia delivered a $26-per-week rise last year.
