WA workers on the award minimum wage to receive a $12 per week pay rise

7/7/99
Labour Relations Minister Cheryl Edwardes said Western Australian workers on the award minimum wage would receive a $12 per week pay rise.
Mrs Edwardes welcomed the decision of the WA Industrial Relations Commission to award a safety net adjustment and to increase the minimum award wage rate by 3.2 per cent to $385.40.
She said this would be welcomed by workers on the minimum wage and was moderate and economically responsible.
The increase is the same as that awarded in April by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
The safety net for WA workers is being kept up to date. Low paid workers, who have not accessed increases through enterprise bargaining, will be eligible for a safety net adjustment of $10 to $12 per week depending on their rate of pay.
However, the Minister said the decision to award the safety net adjustment by general order from August 1 was unexpected.
Mrs Edwardes said this was at odds with the accepted role of the minimum pay adjustments to underpin workplace bargaining. It was also inconsistent with the approach taken by the Federal industrial jurisdiction.
She said in deciding to delete the enterprise bargaining principle, the commission had removed an important underpinning of workplace bargaining.
The Minister called on the WAIRC to exercise care in administering the new arrangements.
"The commitment of all parties to workplace bargaining as the appropriate way of managing workplace relations must be retained," Mrs Edwardes said.
"It would be highly damaging to WA jobs growth if unions were allowed to use the removal of the enterprise bargaining principle to refuse to bargain.
"The last thing WA needs is for wages to be determined by arbitration.
"It is accepted that WA's outstanding productivity performance and growth in wages and living standards in recent years is founded on the flexibility introduced through workplace bargaining.
"All parties support bargaining as the best way to achieve competitive workplaces, jobs growth and increased wages in the future."
The Minister said it was important for the success of the WA system in recent years to continue.
Media contact: Nicole Trigwell 9421 7777