Workers should check they are not missing out on wage increases which should have automatically come into effect at the start of the new financial year.



ACTU President, Ged Kearney, said the ACTU was running National Check Your Pay Day to educate workers about the new annual pay rates which flow on from the effects of an increase in the minimum wages.



Workers with any doubts about whether they are being paid correctly can call the free advice service on 1300 4 UNION (1300 486 466).



“Now that the minimum wage has gone up, all workplace agreements and contracts need to be checked to make sure that the rates of pay stay above the legal minimum,” Ms Kearney said.



“This means that some workers on workplace agreements or over-award contracts will be entitled to a pay rise, because the award rate is the absolute minimum an employer can pay a worker.

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Workers should check their wages against the legal minimum rates to ensure they are not being underpaid thanks to the increase in the minimum wages.

The new minimum wages pay rates came into effect on 1 July, after last month’s Annual Wage Review by Fair Work Australia.

The panel’s decision to award a 3.4% increase to the 1.4 million workers on award wages means minimum wage workers will now take home $589.30 a week, or $15.51 an hour.

For the first time since 1991, the decision properly recognised the relativity of pay between different levels of skill classification. Instead of just awarding a flat rate, this year’s decision gave all workers a 3.4% increase, which means $19.40 per week for minimum wage workers, and up to $30.05 per week for award workers on higher classifications.

The AMWU succesfully called for this to make sure workers with higher qualifications maintained pay levels relative to the value of their skills. 

Award workers on the C10 classification rate should receive a $22.60 increase in their weekly pay.



“Unions encourage all workers to check their pay today because we unfortunately cannot rely on all employers to automatically adjust wages in line with the minimum wages increase,” Ms Kearney said.