BASIC WAGE RISE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29557, 5 July 1961, Page 17

BASIC WAGE RISE

12s Weekly In Australia (N.Z Press Assn.—Copunatit) SYDNEY. July 4. The 12s-a-week pay rise granted today in Australia’s Federal basic wage will absorb about £60.000,000 annually and affect about 2,000,000 workers. The rise—the first since June, 1959—was granted by the Commonwealth Arbitration Commission. It will operate on or after Friday. The president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Mr A. E. Monk, described the decision as the most satisfactory since 1950. He said the 12s rise would give some satisfaction to the trade union movement, although the A.C.T.U. claims, based on the C-series index, would have meant a £2 12s rise. The basic wage grant was one of three major decisions handed down today. The commission also decided to: Reject union requests for restoration of automatic quarterly cost-of-living adjustments and Refuse employers’ claims for an increase in weekly working hours from 40 to 42. The commission decided that Australia's consumer price index would be taken into account when fixing future basic wages. This was hailed by Mr Monk as “a start on the right road back in 1953”—when cost-of-living adjustments were abolished. Later today, some industries interpreted the basic wage rise by predicting higher prices. Others, including retailers. said they expected to absorb the rise because trading was too competitive. The Arbitration Commission Judges said they expected the rise would cause some cost increases and stimulation of demand. But stimulation of demand, they thought, would not cause the general level of prices to rise in existing circumstances.