The new cost of living crisis triggered by Trump’s war on Iran means real wages are falling.
Prices across the board are up more than 20 per cent since COVID.
Housing costs are even worse. Rents nationally were up 43.9 per cent in the five years to last September.
Average wages have already been going backwards in real terms.
Inflation was at 3.7 per cent before the war, and is now likely to rise to above 5 per cent this year. The average pay rise in enterprise bargaining agreements finalised between October and December was only 3.7 per cent, meaning many of these workers will be taking a real pay cut.
We need to fight for far more on pay. Council workers in Melbourne, members of the ASU, are demanding an initial 10 per cent wage rise followed by 4 per cent a year, after losing pay in real terms since 2021.
Members of the Healthcare Workers Union in Victoria agreed to pay rises just shy of 5 per cent a year in March. Some members are now saying they need more.
Workers at the ABC settled for 4 per cent this year followed by 3.25 per cent for the next two years after a 24 hour strike in March, the first at the broadcaster in 20 years.
At universities the NTEU has agreed to pay rises of 3.5 per cent a year at Australian Catholic University and Western Sydney University. With bargaining under way at other universities including UTS and Sydney Uni, staff need to demand far better.
Winning this will require serious strike action. Victorian teachers have shown the possibility of large strikes. Unions need to step up the action.
