Media Release

19 June 2020

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Labor has welcomed the Fair Work Commission’s decision to raise the minimum wage and urged the NSW Government to abandon plans to cut public workers’ wages.

In justifying the decision to increase the minimum wage by 1.75 per cent – around $13 a week – Commission President Iain Ross said freezing wages would “result in a real wage cut.”

The decision comes after the NSW Government continues to push to cut the wages of more than 400,000 public workers like nurses, cleaners, police, and firefighters.

Labor Leader in the Legislative Council and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Adam Searle said: “I hope Gladys Berejiklian and Dominic Perrottet are paying attention.

“The Fair Work Commission’s decision proves investment in workers’ wages is a sensible decision to take to stimulate jobs in a recession” — Adam Searle MLC, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations

“It makes sense to invest in workers’ wages because those workers spend their salaries in local businesses. That’s proven to support jobs in industries like retail, hospitality, and even at the hairdresser.

“Our nurses, cleaners, police and firefighters are heroes. They deserve a medal, not a pay cut.”

Earlier independent economic modelling from the Australia Institute shows the planned public worker pay cuts would lead to 1,100 job losses in NSW.

It says that for every $1 million invested in public sector workers’ wages, two additional private sector jobs are created. The same amount invested in construction would only create one additional job.