First, an
award wage for apprentices and trainees at May 2009 (the collection period for the SET) was determined, using the following principles.
The year 2006 was also noteworthy because State industrial tribunals found gender-based undervaluation of the industrial
award wages in one industry overwhelmingly dominated by women workers.
In short the amended Workplace Relations Act has fundamentally changed the wage determination process by removing the power from the AIRC to set
award wages or to hear national wage cases.
There is clearly room in Australia to provide still more flexibility, for instance by only setting a federal minimum wage rather than a whole
award wage grid, by supporting optouts from sectoral awards, or by further reducing the number of allowable matters.
In contrast to the Commonwealth's SWS in which employers pay workers with disabilities a wage equivalent to their independently assessed productivity, JG workers would be paid the full minimum
award wage.
Award wages increase over time through National Wage cases and via specific industrial award rate changes.
Even without
award wage increases, many of the low paid could be expected to obtain wage increases.
All of these alternative, non-compensation-based reasons to join trade unions may be sufficient to maintain Australia's union membership (41% in 1990 [Australian Bureau of Statistics 1990]), especially since union dues average less than 1% of
award wages.
The principles in NSW and Queensland conjoined a system of industry
award wage determination in those two jurisdictions.
The] decision will help meet the needs of
award wage earners and we are pleased it is above inflation.
The fixing of
award wage rates is also required to facilitate bargaining at the enterprise level, presumably achieved through keeping safety net adjustments deliberately lower than the gains made in enterprise bargaining so as to provide workers with an incentive to bargain and to provide scope for trading on matters concerning workplace flexibility (see WRA ss 3(a); 88B(2)(b); 88B(2)(c) 3(d)(ii); 88B(2)(a); 3(b); 88A(d)(i)).
TSMIT is the entry level salary for the 457 program and is well above the
award wage for Australians.
