In disappointing news, the Premier has decided to try and rip-off public sector workers by not increasing allowances in a way that keeps up with costs of living.
Each year the CPSU applies to have allowances in Awards increased so they maintain their real value. The Award states that wage related allowance must be increased each year by ‘the same percentage as the salary rate for the lowest level of Band 4 … has increased between 1 July in the preceding year and 30 June of that year’. Sounds clear? In a really stingy move, this year the Premier has decreed he will only allow allowances to be increased by 3.5% ignoring all the other increases that applied to the salary rate such as the cost-of-living increase and the low-income increase.
The CPSU is very clear about what the words in the Award mean – they mean that allowances must be increased by ‘the same percentage the salary rate‘ increased and not one cent less.
We will be challenging the Premier’s stingy decree. We will ask the Tasmanian Industrial Commission to override his decision and increase allowances by the total percentage the salary at Band 4 increased.
It’s a really mean maneuver from the Premier when he knows Tasmanians are doing it tough. It’s also not a smart move either, as his government has acknowledged that they face a recruitment and retention crisis, and tactics like this do little to help.
We know workers need (and deserve) every cent. That’s why this matter is going straight to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission. Stay tuned.
