The FWC's minimum wage panel has decided against holding a preliminary hearing to consider new research on the budget required to sustain a healthy lifestyle, after the proposal only won support from Catholic employers.
Coles and the SDA have agreed on a draft two-year deal that provides higher penalty rates, but has lower annual pay rises for workers who are already on elevated wage rates.
The FWC's minimum wage panel is seeking submissions by next Friday on whether to hold a preliminary hearing into new "budget standards" research that establishes the income required for a healthy lifestyle, updated for changes in household expenses since the development of the original benchmark in the mid-1990s.
The main protagonists have landed their last blows ahead of Sunday penalty rate cuts coming into effect this weekend, United Voice calling on restaurant and pub patrons to pressure bosses over whether they value their staff, while AiG insists that July 1's parallel "hefty" minimum wage rise not only sees workers better off, but saddles employers with bigger wage bills.
The WA Industrial Relations Commission has increased the state minimum wage by 2.3%, noting that the economy is still in a "trough" after the end of the mining and construction boom in recent years.
The Fair Work Commission today conceded that inflated concerns about the impact of minimum wage increases on employment may have led to it being "overly cautious" in past rulings.
The Fair Work Commission has this morning granted award-reliant workers a 3.3% increase, lifting the national minimum wage by $22.20 a week or 59 cents an hour in this year's annual wage review ruling.
The Fair Work Commission will bring down the 2017 minimum wage review at 11am tomorrow in a ruling that is expected to fall well short of the ambitious claim pushed by the ACTU under new secretary Sally McManus.
The SDA will withdraw its claim for extra pay rises of 10% for retail and fast food workers in this year's minimum wage review, the Fair Work Commission heard today.
