3 June 2010

The ACCER welcomed the decision made by the Fair Work Australia Minimum Wages Panel to raise the national minimum wage by $26 per week.  This lifts the national minimum wage to $569.90 per week.  The increases are to take effect from the first pay period after 1 July 2010.  In its decision the Minimum WagesPanel said there was a strong case for a rise in minimum wages to provide a fair and relevant safety net, protect the relative living standards of award-reliant employees and assist the low-paid to meet their needs.

30 April 2010

The principal submission filed by the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations (ACCER) in the Annual Wage Review 2009-10 has placed considerable emphasis on the needs of low paid workers and their families in the context of increasing costs of living, relative living standards and the statutory and policy objective of social inclusion.  While the submissions lodged by some of the other parties have covered living costs, relative wage rates and social inclusion, there is very little in their submissions that concerns the needs of low paid workers and their families. 

ACCER has made further submissions in reply which can be accessed via the following link

ACCER Submission in Reply 2010 Annual Wage Review

March 2010

The Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations has lodged a submission to the Fair Work Australia 2010 Annual Wage Review.

The submission is informed by the belief, based on Catholic social teaching, that workers have a right to wages that will support themselves and their families at a decent standard of living.  It includes a detailed analysis of the way in which low paid workers, who are dependent on safety net wages, have endured a substantial decline in their wages relative to the rest of the community.  This has had an adverse impact on those with family responsibilities, making it ever harder to support a family without the need for the second parent to seek employment. 

The full submission is available via the following link ACCER Submission 2010 Annual Wage Review