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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FAILS TO STOP STATE WAGE CASE 27 February 2006 The South Australian Industrial Relations Commission has rejected a federal government attempt to stop the state wage case and prevent South Australia's lowest paid workers from receiving a wage rise. The Commission ruled that the federal government can intervene in the case, but cannot stop the case from going ahead. SA Unions Secretary, Janet Giles says it is an important win for workers. "This is a significant step in the fight against John Howard's draconian industrial law changes, which will strip workers of their rights and create a poorer workforce." "This miserly federal government stopped workers on federal awards getting their annual wage rise. They are now forced to wait for the government-appointed "Fair Pay" Commission. That means they are unlikely to get any wage rise this year, and anything they do receive will in all likelihood be lower than recent decisions." "The federal government has tried to do the same to workers on state awards but our Commission disagreed and ruled the state wage case should proceed." "We are heartened by this decision, as we believe our independent state IRC is the appropriate body to consider our workers' wages, not a Federal Commissioner appointed by a government which has opposed every minimum wage case application since coming to power." "We think it is outrageous that the federal government is lavishing money on a team of QC's to travel the country to argue against our poorest workers getting a decent annual salary increase to help them make ends meet." "We further think the so-called "Fair Pay" Commission should be compelled to take the state wage case into consideration when it begins its deliberations, to ensure the federal workers get wage rises of a similar standard as those on state awards", Ms Giles says.
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