Welfare Matters

Business defied as low-paid awarded more | The Australian
Low paid worker in Australia will be paid 568.20 a week

THE weekly pay packets of hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers in South Australia and Queensland will be given a boost after the states' industrial relations commissions yesterday awarded increases to the minimum wage.

The QIRC handed its lowest paid, full-time adult workers a $16.20 weekly wage increase. From next month, they will earn $568.20 a week.

The rise ensures Queensland workers are on par with NSW's lowest-paid wage earners, who were awarded a $15.50 increase last month.

The Australian Workers Union described the Queensland decision as "fair".

"The commission's decision is a good outcome for the AWU, its members and for the working families across Queensland," senior industrial advocate Chris Simpson said.

The SAIRC handed down a $14 increase, taking SA workers to $560.65 a week.

A disappointed Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan claimed the SAIRC had shown "no consistency" with last month's Australian Fair Pay Commission ruling, which froze the national wage on $543.78 to protect jobs and promote economic recovery. The state's employer groups had requested no increase.

"This increase in minimum wages is likely to flow on into price increases, and may lead to operators reducing labour costs and cutting staff," Mr Vaughan said. "Many businesses are already taking the appropriate precautions to avoid reducing staff levels and with unemployment levels expected to rise in coming months, this increase ... will put further pressure on jobs."

SA Unions had asked for a 3.91 per cent increase, which would have raised the lowest wage to $568, but state secretary Janet Giles applauded the decision not to freeze wages.

The wage rise will take effect in SA from October.