NSW unions have called on the Perrottet Coalition Government to loosen the State's public sector pay cap after a Queensland offer to nurses that will deliver 11% in pay rises over three years plus "cost of living top-up payments" of up to 3% a year.
A UK national living wage review has found that while the NLW's introduction has not caused job losses, the expected productivity gains have failed to materialise.
The NSW Opposition has promised today that if it takes power at the March election, it will scrap the decade-old public sector wages cap and replace it with a productivity-based bargaining system.
In the wake of the RBA governor's warning about the risks of a wage-price spiral, new A-G's department data shows that bargained pay rises are flatlining at 2.7% a year in the private sector, rising at little more than half the 5.1% rate of headline consumer price inflation.
The FSU is seeking annual pay rises of 6% in bargaining at both Westpac and NAB, arguing the hefty increases are justified by the inflation spike and the major banks' continuing strong profits.
NSW's Perrottet Government has raised its 2.5% wage ceiling to 3% next financial year and up to 3.5% in 2023-24, in the face of incomes falling behind consumer price inflation and unions taking industrial action seeking to scrap the cap.
The FWC's minimum wage panel has given Prime Minister Anthony Albanese until Friday to lodge a submission to this year's annual wage review, but has asked him to keep it to 10 pages.
The UK Low Pay Commission has increased its wage floor by 6.6% to £9.50 ($16.80) as part of its plan to raise the minimum to two-thirds of median earnings by 2024.
Consumer prices are now rising at more than double the pace of private sector rates of pay excluding bonuses, which increased by 2.4% annually in the March quarter, unchanged from the December quarter, according to the ABS.