The Federal Government has made a "technical assumption" that there will be a minimum wage increase of 3.5% this year, the FWC's expert panel heard yesterday, while Commission President Adam Hatcher lamented the "Catch-22" situation the Commission faces in weighing whether Canberra will fund any gender-based increases.
The SDA says its challenge to a Victorian/Tasmanian Aldi deal on the basis that it tries to circumvent new "same-job, same-pay" laws has prompted the company to quietly ditch similar provisions from a proposed SA deal immediately before an unsuccessful ballot.
A FWC full bench has made a provisional ruling in favour of ensuring the lowest pay classification in modern awards is used only for a short period of induction and training, making the second lowest rate the benchmark for continuing employment.
Low Pay Commission research has found that Government policies have driven the UK minimum wage's "bite" of the median up by 9.3 percentage points, while Australia's has increased by less than 0.1 percentage points since 2015, with next month's 9.8% wage floor rise in the old country to bring the minimum up to two-thirds of the median wage.
The FWC is seeking submissions on the latest phase of its research on gender-based occupational segregation, which has been released ahead of this year's annual wage review.
The FWC's minimum wage panel should award an increase of no more than 2% in this year's annual wage review, according to peak employer group ACCI, partly to correct "errors" in the Commission's analysis in its last two rulings.
The ACTU says the FWC should conduct a "comprehensive assessment" of gender-based undervaluation of work, rather than seek to finalise the issue in this year's minimum wage review.
