Unions help boost wages but price rises are cancelling out more of the gains

Union members are more likely to have had better pay increases in 2010 than the Labour Cost Index figure of 1.7% announced today, says the largest private sector union, the Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union (EPMU).

“Pay increases negotiated last year by the EPMU averaged just over 2.5% with many collective agreements providing for higher increases this year to compensate for the impact of the GST increase,” says EPMU national secretary Andrew Little.

“For example, members employed under our Metals and Manufacturing multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) got an increase of 3% this year with an extra day off to compensate for ANZAC Day falling on the same day as Easter Monday,” says Andrew Little.

“National’s GST hike and price increases of 4% are cancelling out the gains for many workers and hurting the nearly 50% who received no pay increase last year,” he says.

The EPMU represents around 43,000 workers in eleven industry sectors.

ENDS

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