Comment on Minimum and award wages to rise 3.5 per cent from July
JackLSauce@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Once again, I am asking any random Aussie for help: What is an “awards wage”?
I thought it’d be akin to a tipped minimum wage but it sounds more like an alternate floor for various industries but I can’t find anything explaining it plainly
In Australia we have a general minimum wage, that is indexed to inflation once a year.
In addition to this, certain industries (e.g. agriculture) have a higher minimum wage amount that we call the award rate. These are also indexed to inflation, so that they always stay a certain amount over base.
Think of it as Minimum Wage+
I don’t think anyone here has yet explained it properly for you. The way our unions work is a fair bit different than in the US. They don’t require 50%+ out of a single workplace to form, and instead represent entire industries. Any one worker can go and sign up for their union tomorrow. So part of what these unions then negotiate on is a sweeping “award” for the entire industry that gets negotiated between all major stakeholders. These are also hyper-specific, mandating pay raises based off skill level, responsibilities and seniority. As well, if you’re on a casual contract (i.e. non-permanent) then you get a 25% loading to cover not getting sick & personal leave, which is universal. All up this means that a very, very limited number of workers are only covered by/paid minimum wage. For example, if you’re an entry level, non-permanent ‘Food and Beverage Attendant’ (i.e. waiter/ress) working during the week before 10pm, you’re getting $30.13/hour. Same position but it’s a Public Holiday? $60.25/hour.^[1]^ The only people in the restaurant industry that are making that minimum wage are entry-level on a full or part-time contract that protects them from being fired without cause after three months. They also receive 4 weeks annual leave and 10 days sick/carer’s leave, pro-rata for part-time contracts. Everyone is also entitled to an extra 11.5% on top for ‘superannuation’ which is what our retirement benefits are called, going up to 12% at the same time as this minimum wage increase.
So, to summarise, Australian minimum wage isn’t really just one number. Via industry awards, it is actually an entire pay scale for almost every hourly employee in the country. This 3.5% increase affects these scales as well, hence why millions of workers are receiving this bump, they aren’t all on the minimum rate.
This is actually something that bothers me quite a lot when I’ve had discussions with Americans about minimum wage. They see this figure of US$16.12/hour and go “well Australia doesn’t really have that much higher of a minimum wage than us” or “see we don’t really need to aim for anything more than $15/hour”. When the reality is that that burger flipper at risk of being let go without cause is actually making US$21.42/hour under their industry award and has their wage increases tied to CPI so they’re never worse off year over year.
(I moved this to its own comment to keep the explanation above a bit more succinct.)
This is actually something that bothers me quite a lot when I’ve had discussions with Americans about minimum wage. They see this figure of US$16.12/hour and go “well Australia doesn’t really have that much higher of a minimum wage than us” or “see we don’t really need to aim for anything more than $15/hour”. When the reality is that that burger flipper at risk of being let go without cause is actually making US$21.42/hour under their industry award and has their wage increases tied to CPI so they’re never worse off year over year.
Minimum wage: About $24/hr full-time and $30/hr casual.
PetulantBandicoot@aussie.zone 3 days ago
An award wage is a legally mandated minimum pay rate based on an employees modern award.
A modern award is a legal document that covers an employees conditions for employment. This covers various things such as; pay rates (as above), penalty rates (working weekends, night shift, public holidays, etc.), hours of work (38 hours a week), breaks (tea breaks, lunch breaks), rosters, and overtime.
There are quite a few awards which you can find here: www.fairwork.gov.au/…/list-of-awards
I don’t believe Australia has ever had tipped minimum wage (and it should never).
But that is just a minimum standard, can’t you negotiate for a higher salary? Yes
An employee can negotiate with their employer for better conditions of employment, which is covered as an employment contract. (Should be noted, an employment contract cannot leave the employee worse off, ie. cannot erode your rights under an award).
More information here: www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/awards