Leader 30Apr 1998 IR

The pay-rise decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission yesterday is part of an evolving process in industrial relations. The commission still has and should continue to have a role in industrial relations in Australia. But that role should not be to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s of every employment contract in the country. Rather its role is to ensure that there is a minimum level of wages and some minimum conditions which apply throughout Australia. This seems the only practicable way to prevent exploitation of the most vulnerable and poorly paid people in the community.

Yesterday the commission awarded an increase to the minimum wage of $14 for those earning up to $550 a week. There were lesser rises for workers earning above that.

The commission rightly pointed out that this should not have a very large impact on inflation and other elements of the economy because the rise applies only to those workers who have not have an equivalent amount or more through enterprise bargaining. It pointed to the evidence that last year’s minimum-wage, safety-net increase did not have a significant impact on the economy for that reason.

The Government and employers were perhaps ill-advised to have opposed a rise in minimum wages. They have said all along that enterprise bargaining must be the principle method of dealing with industrial relations. They are achieving that quite rapidly, so it should not trouble them greatly if the few remaining in the workforce on low wages get some protection from being left behind.

In the context of assurances from government and employers that there are few if any unscrupulous employers who would exploit slave wages, it should not be much of a concession.

The great advance in industrial relations has been that employers and employees should by and large work out their own arrangements without being forced into detailed arrangements arbitrated from without. But that should not preclude a vehicle for the setting of minimum wages.

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