As part of the government's annual minimum wage review, the ACTU is calling for an increase to $26.19 per hour.
Award-reliant workers are the hardest hit by increases in housing costs, such as higher mortgages and rents, the union says. (Source: Getty)
Australia's largest union body is calling for the lowest paid workers in the country to see a legislated wage increase of more than 5 per cent. The push would see millions of employeesstay slightly ahead of inflation, with the union arguing resurgent cost of living pressures means the status quo is not enough to live on.
TheAustralian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)will make its claim to the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday as part of the upcoming Annual Wage Review. ACTU Secretary Sally McManus has taken aim at US president Donald Trump's war in Iran and rising interest rates as reasons why workers desperately need to wage boost.
If the union body gets its way, it would lift the minimum wage to $26.19 per hour, making the annual full-time rate jump by $2,465 to $51,761 per annum.
Some 3 million Aussies work in jobs across hospitality, retail, healthcare, disability and other industries that pay the minimum wage, with the ACTU saying an increase to the award will also help all award wage workers by increasing the minimum floor under their pay.
According to the ACTU, employees on the minimum wage need an extra $262 a week to achieve a healthy lifestyle. That's based on the Fair Work Commission's budget standards research that measures how much income is needed to ensure a certain level of comfort.
It wants to see the Fair Work Commission to close that 'pay gap', arguing that the typical full-time award wage worker would be nearly $2,500 a year better off today if wages had kept up with inflation since 2021.
As economists predict inflation to rise above 5 per cent if the conflict in the Middle East drags on, McManus warned the lowest paid workers will get left behind if the nation goes through another spike in prices.
Everyone knows the lowest paid workers in Australia are doing it tough because they have borne the brunt of cost-of-living increases as landlords put up rent and supermarkets and fuel companies pumped up prices, she said.
Working Australians need pay rises that get them ahead of inflation so they can continue to catch up.
Inflation expectations at all time high
The current conflict has the federal government scrambling to secure fuel supplies as well as make an amendment to the Fair Work Act this week in an emergency action to protect truck drivers from rising fuel costs.
Under newly announced move, truckies and road transport businesseswill be able to make emergency applications for a contract chain order, ensuring they are paid enough by their clients to cover surging fuel costs.
Truckies and transport operators need to be protected from fuel price rises and it’s important that costs are shared fairly through the supply chain, Minister for Employment, Amanda Rishworth, said.
Ultimately,those costs will be passed on to the consumer in higher pricesand McManus and the ACTU say it's the most vulnerable Australians who can't afford to take that hit.
We will not accept the lowest-paid workers in Australia going backwards because of the Reserve Bank and Donald Trump. Workers were the ones who felt it the most last time inflation spiked; we cannot let this happen again, she said.
According to the latest weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan survey data released on Tuesday, inflation expectations have risen to an all-time high of 6.9 per cent.
The unions deny a 5 per cent increase will lead to an inflation or wage price spiral, arguing such a boost will add about 0.6 per cent to the nation's total wage bill.
Of course, employer groups will say that any wage rise will put pressure on inflation – like they do every year – and every time they have been wrong, McManus said.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistic's Wage Price Index, in 2025 wages on aggregate grew by 3.4 per cent, which was less than inflation for the same period of 3.8 per cent.
