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Professional firefighters slam the Andrews Government’s 1.5 per cent wage cap in the face of the spiralling cost of living!

MEDIA RELEASE
Friday, 9th March, 2023

Professional firefighters have slammed the Andrews Government’s 1.5 per cent public sector wage cap in the face of the spiralling cost of living, including ten straight interest rate rises.

United Firefighters Union Victorian Branch Secretary Peter Marshall said that with massive inflation and relentless interest rate hikes, the Andrews Government was effectively delivering a pay cut to Victorian public sector and emergency services workers.

“The Andrews Government’s 1.5 per cent wages cut is a slap in the face to every hard-working public sector worker and their family across Victoria. Inflation is now running at 7.4 per cent, and the Reserve Bank has just delivered its 10th straight interest rate rise, adding $1,000 per month to an average mortgage of $500,000. Wages are not keeping pace with these soaring increases, affecting workers’ ability
to provide for families, pay mortgages and rent, school fees, and more. These cost-of-living pressures threaten to crush workers, particularly younger families who may have recently entered the housing market and compromise their ability to provide for their families”

“Yet, the Andrews Government thinks it’s acceptable to maintain a Wages Policy that offers public sector workers, including emergency services workers and career Firefighters, a measly 1.5 per cent wage increase. The Andrews Government’s 1.5 per cent Wage Policy is even more unacceptable when you consider that other Australian states are delivering public sector wage increases of 3 per cent, and have even factored even factored in ‘costs of living’ into wage offers for their workers”

“The Andrews Government professes to be a progressive government, yet its Wages Policy is simply unsustainable and incomprehensible for working people.”

Mr Marshall said that although the Fair Work Commission provides a mechanism to resolve enterprise bargaining and lift wages, the Andrews Government Wages Policy capped any potential wage increases and effectively drove workers’ wages down. “The Andrews Government Wages Policy essentially prevents any legitimate and fair wage outcomes for workers, which the independent umpire, the Fair Work
Commission, would otherwise determine. We call on the Andrews Government to stop cutting Victorian public sector workers’ pay by maintaining an unfair and unacceptable Wages Policy.”

The UFU has also written to the Victorian Trades Hall to request an update on its attempts to secure a fair Wages Policy on behalf of affiliates and their members.”

Media Contact: Darren Rodrigo 0414 783 405


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