Perth Jobs

Perth jobs for public servants may soon offer high salaries.

With the WA Industrial Relations Commission recently granting a 5.5 percent pay raise to some of the state’s lowest paid employees, the government is now feeling to pressure to follow suit. The WAIRC’s decision to raise the minimum wage will take effect July 1st. It will take the area’s least paid workers from $528.40 per week to $557.40.

At this time negotiations are underway to determine what the increase in pay should be for the positions to be effected. Currently the government is offering state’s teachers a raise of about 3.9 percent.

Dave Robinson, secretary of UnionsWA believes it is high time for public servants to receive high compensation for work. “Anyone in WA knows how much prices for things like food and petrol have jumped, so wage rise does help those low-income earners to a significant extent,” he said.

Robison was pleased WAIRC’s decision to increase the salaries of those in the lowest earned income bracket in the state. He also strongly believes that it will effect the outcome of the government’s decision to boast its employees income by acting as a benchmark during the negotiations.

“The decision will automatically flow on to all state awards but does not affect current enterprise bargaining negotiations, including teachers, because public sector employee subject to these negotiations are already earning well above minimum rates,” Robinson said.

“It’s very clear from what the commission was saying in their decision that we’ve got a buoyant economy, it’s hard to attract and retain people and this was part of the reason for the increase," Robinson continued. "Those are the arguments that public servants and school teachers are running as well.”

Anne Gisborne, president of the State School Teachers’ Union, said that the WAIRC decision will be mentioned during her organization’s discuss with government officials. She believes that the fact that the amount awarded is higher than the first offer made to those with Perth jobs in education will help the union’s argument.

“As decisions come down that reflect increases significantly more than the one that was on the table from tge government —which was around 4 per cent — it certainly bodes well for the strength of our case.” she said.

The teacher’s union hopes to talk government officials into pay raises that would amount to more than 20 percent over the next three years. At the same time, members of the Community and Public Sector Union are asking for a 23 percent increase during the same time period.

According to the CPSU, the government’s best offer so far is to give most workers a pay increase of 4.3 percent a year, which is the same as the current rate of inflation.

Posted by: jcheesman on 4/16/2009 at 9:55 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink