AUSTRALIAN Catholic Social Justice Council chairman Bishop Christopher Saunders has called on decision makers to address the plight of low-paid workers.
Bishop Saunders used the May 1 feast of St Joseph the Worker to make the call through a pastoral letter.
He said low-paid workers with little or no discretionary income were bearing the cost of a financial crisis that was not of their making.
Bishop Saunders said that in 2009 the Australian Fair Pay Commission imposed a wage freeze on these 1.6 million safety net workers with the aim of preventing job losses and promoting economic recovery following the global financial collapse.
Safety net wages are available to all award-covered workers who have been unable to access a wage increase through enterprise bargaining and who depend on adjustments to award rates for their wage increases.
“While they endure a pay freeze for the sake of Australia’s economic interests, the Productivity Commission has dismissed suggestions of tougher restrictions on executive remuneration through pay caps or reduced tax concessions because ‘getting this wrong in relation to the senior executives of Australia’s largest companies could be very damaging to our national economic interests’.”
Bishop Saunders said decision makers in government and business must include adequate provision for low-paid and unemployed workers as they address the impact of the global financial crisis.
“Australia is at a crossroads. How we respond to the needs of the poorest individuals and families will characterise the spirit of this nation,” he said.
“As Pope Benedict has said, ‘The current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future’.”
Bishop Saunders said Australia’s federal minimum wage (FMW) must be judged on the ability to keep workers and families out of poverty.
“Every day, staff in agencies like CatholicCare and Vinnies provide support to families struck by unemployment and the grind of poorly paid, insecure and intermittent work,” he said.
Bishop Saunders said the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations (ACCER) submission to the current Annual Wage Review showed that safety net wages had not kept pace with costs of living.
St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland president Brian Moore said the society was helping more people than ever before.
“The real difference we are seeing is the requests for assistance from people we don’t traditionally help, particularly people who are actually employed but cannot survive on their wage,” Mr Moore said.
“Many have had their hours cut, there is less overtime available and those who rely on casual work to make ends meet have been having a tough time.”
Mr Moore said the global financial crisis made 2009 a tough year for the society in Queensland.
“We were faced with increased requests from Queenslanders in real financial trouble, due to the global financial crisis,” he said.
“The big difference was that the total number of people helped with financial assistance went up from 159,600 to 211,250 (a 32 per cent increase).”
Mr Moore said Vinnies in Queensland touched the lives of more than 325,000 people in need in 2009 and there were already indications that this year would see that number jump up again.
ACCER’s submission to the Annual Wage Review, drafted by chairman Brian Lawrence, showed why low-paid workers dependent on safety net wages have seen a substantial decline in their wages relative to wages in the rest of the community.
Mr Lawrence said a major part of the submission was concerned with a detailed analysis of the way in which the setting of safety net wages over the past decade had failed low-paid workers and their families.
The submission quantified the dollar loss per week in disposable income of safety net families compared to those on average weekly earnings during that 10-year period.
Losses range from between $60 and $103 of disposable income for wage earners earning from $543 to $835 gross per week. Mr Lawrence said the figures also took into account weekly family support payments.
He said ACCER had always been concerned for the interests of families and the current submission detailed that fact.
“ACCER’s submissions to past wage cases have sought the fixing of minimum rates of pay that are sufficient, after allowing for income tax and relevant government transfers, to support a family of four at the minimum acceptable standard of living without the need for the second parent to undertake paid employment.
“The family of four has been identified because a family with two children best approximates the size of contemporary Australian families.
“The capacity of the wage to support the second parent, and not to require that parent to seek paid employment, is a necessary part of the ability of parents to exercise their family responsibilities in the way in which they will best advance the interests of their children.”
