Catholics urge minimum wage increase: They know employees are doing it hard

In early April, the Australian Catholic Church's Industrial Relations advisory body called on the Fair Work Commission’s wage panel to raise the federal minimum wage by 4.5%, while noting that an increase nearly three times that amount would be needed to lift single workers out of poverty.

Demonstrating that Catholic employers understand the reality facing working families, including their own employees, the Annual Wage Review Submission of The Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference says the wage panel should gradually eliminate “the gap between the National Minimum Wage and the National Poverty Line for sole parents/carers with two dependent children", while "substantially narrowing the poverty gap for couples with dependent children".

The Catholic submission said it would take a 12.7% or $116.30 rise to fully close the poverty gap, but this "would still leave couple-based households with dependents in poverty relative to the NMW”.

The submission makes interesting reading for IEU members in Victorian Catholic schools whose wages lag well behind the rest of the nation.  Ensuring a salary offer that properly addresses this inequity will be a key issue when bargaining commences with the Victorian Catholic Education Authority (VCEA) later this year.  It is time for all those working in Victorian Catholic schools to again lead the nation both in terms of conditions and wages.

​The Catholic Church employs more than 220,000 employees in health, aged care, education, welfare and administration. Its submission states that it supports the wage increase because of an “underpinning belief that workers have a right to wages that will support themselves and their families to a dignified standard of living”.

“The Catholic Church has a long history of advocating for a safety net minimum wage. The idea that working people and their families live in poverty is inconsistent with safety net principles…

“This belief arises from core Catholic social teachings. Modern expressions of these views can be found as early as Pope Leo XIII encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891. These submissions are intended to give voice to those beliefs.”

The Catholic submission also says the nation needs to “maintain growth in the NMW as a critically important benchmark in the prevention of low-income adult wage earners slipping into poverty in the aftermath of a generational cost-of-living crisis”.

“While Australia has recorded abatement in price rises for several non-discretionary items, the cost-of-living challenge vis-à-vis price movements in rents, insurance premiums, energy, food, pharmaceutical and medical products remains substantial.”

The Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review is due for release before the end of the financial year, and will usually come into operation on 1 July.

While the review decision doesn’t usually directly affect employees subject to Enterprise Agreements, who are generally paid at higher rates, it shapes the context, expectations, and legal requirements of bargaining. Negotiating positions are often adjusted based on the outcomes.

The Catholic submission states that approximately 4,989,000 people in Australia are living at or below the 60% poverty line. This includes over three million (3,319,000) people living in poverty (including 761,000 children) below the 50% poverty line.

“Research demonstrates that a significant proportion of this group are employed in full-time work.” 

A range of employer groups are seeking to restrict wage rises to around 2.5%.  We would be deeply concerned if this position was maintained by VCEA especially when most independent schools are currently achieving wage outcomes of at least 3-4. In a time of continued workforce shortage in schools all employers must ensure remain competitive and ensure staff have access to salaries that address cost of living pressures.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions submission also encouraged a 4.5% increase in the NMW and award wages, “an above-inflation wage increase that helps to address the real wage losses of the past four years, and gives Australia’s award reliant workers significant support in meeting their needs”.