Brad Norington

19sep05

UNIONS will defy the Howard Government's plan to stop any further national wage cases by launching one last pay claim under existing federal laws to help low-income earners.
In a surprise strategy that will force the Government on to the defensive, the ACTU will as early as this week lodge a new pay claim in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on behalf of 1.6million workers.

The ACTU leadership will argue that the claim is necessary to protect the real value of wage levels for workers on minimum pay rates starting at $484 a week. The claim -- expected to be between $22 and $24 a week -- is part of union efforts to avoid a wage freeze of up to 18 months for low-income earners as workers wait for the Government's new industrial relations system.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet said the claim would take into account an expected 2.2 per cent rise in inflation and the surge in petrol costs, estimated to add $16 to $18 a week for the average family car.

"The Government is not doing anything about rising petrol prices," he said.

Under workplace legislation still to be introduced into parliament, the Government planned that the $17-a-week pay rise granted by the commission in June would be its last before being stripped of its power over wages.