The Australian Industry Group (AI Group) has urged the Minimum Wage Panel to take a cautious approach to the upcoming Annual Wage Review, saying that any changes could potentially damage non-mining sectors.

 

"Fair Work Australia needs to be mindful of the very sharp divergences in business conditions across the country and across different sectors. The severity of conditions in trade-exposed non-mining industries such as manufacturing and tourism and in the retail sector, make these important, big-employing sectors very vulnerable to an excessive wage increase,” Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox said.

 

AI Group have proposed the following:

  • Firstly, that the Federal Minimum Wage be increased by $14.00 per week operative from 1 July 2012, with the same increase applied to award minimum wages.
  • Secondly, if the Tribunal decides to grant a percentage increase instead of a flat dollar increase, the $14.00 should be converted to a percentage of the base trade rate (i.e. 2%) and that percentage applied to all classifications.

 

"The ACTU's proposed increase $26 per week up to the base trade level and 3.8 per cent increase for other classifications is economically unsustainable and would be damaging for the economy," Mr Willox said