BIG BUSINESS WAGE HYPOCRISY

25 July 2009

The state's peak union body has accused big business of absolute hypocrisy in opposing SA Unions' application for a modest increase for the state's lowest paid workers.

SA Unions is seeking a modest 3.91% increase for the state's lowest paid workers.  By contrast, business is calling for a wage freeze, arguing they should get nothing.

SA Unions Secretary, Janet Giles says it's typically disingenuous and mean spirited.

"In one moment they're talking up SA's business confidence and prospects for recovery, with low unemployment, high workforce participation and record high business investment, but in the next breath they're preaching gloom and doom and warning that any movement in wages would have cataclysmic consequences."

"Rather than running around like henny penny squawking the sky is falling, a sober look at the facts is warranted", Ms Giles says.

"The 3.91% increase SA Unions seeks is based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics Wage Price Index for South Australia for the past 12 months.  We believe the lowest paid should receive the average increase that has already flowed to the majority of other workers."

"A modest increase to the lowest paid will not cause an economic meltdown.  Reputable data consistently shows there is no connection between low paid workers' salaries and inflation.  In fact, wages have remained flat while productivity has risen."

"Frozen wages undermine efforts to stimulate the economy and are not supported by the community.  Witness the reaction to the ineptly named "Fair Pay" Commission's recent wage freeze.  No increase to the lowest paid means they have less disposable income and are more reliant on welfare.  It's a cost to the community and government."

"SA Unions position is strongly backed by the state's peak welfare organisation, the South Australian Council of Social Services.  Its inaugural "Cost of Living" report shows that for the low income households which comprise a quarter of SA's population, the cost of essentials has skyrocketed.  The CPI Cost of Living in Adelaide has increased 8.8% since March 2006, with rents rising 15%-33%, gas and electricity supply charges rising more than 20% and food rising more than 18%."

"It's unjustifiably mean and incredibly short sighted for business to argue that the lowest paid workers should be effectively punished by having their wages frozen to pay for big business's fiscal ineptitude in creating the global financial crisis."

"SA Unions will continue to assess all of the submissions made to its wage claim prior to drafting a comprehensive response next week", Ms Giles says.