The Greens will push for an increase to the minimum wage and higher pay in women-dominated industries like nursing in exchange for supporting outcomes from the government’s skills summit.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said the party, which holds the balance of power in the Senate along with the cross bench, would not pass any legislation that doesn’t lift wages.
He vowed the Greens would not rubber stamp any proposals from the government’s landmark jobs and skills summit unless the lowest paid workers were given a raise.
The party also wanted incomes for female-dominated industries like nursing, teaching, social work and aged care, to rise by at least half a per cent above inflation.
“The government must lift wages now. Not in three years, not when there have been skills reforms, but now,” Mr Bandt said.
“The Greens won’t be a rubber stamp for government side-deals with big corporations.”
Greens leader Adam Bandt wants wages to rise now.
Backing the push by the Australian Council of Trade Unions for industry-wide bargaining, Mr Bandt says the Greens would go even further to amend any legislation in the Senate to include a greater role for government in setting wages across the board.
“If and when any proposals from the jobs summit hit the Senate, the Greens will push to change the law to guarantee wage rises,” Mr Bandt said.
“The government should treat low wages, especially in the care economy, as urgently as they’re treating skills shortages.
“We need to lift low wages from the bottom up, not just wait for any future skills reform to trickle down.”
Mr Bandt will attend the summit with Senator Barbara Pocock and will outline his party’s proposal to reform the Fair Work Act.
The Greens have raised concerns any changes would not affect workers covered by enterprise agreements still in force for up to three years.
The party will push to set the minimum wage at 60 per cent of the full time median wage, which would increase the new minimum wage to $23.76 an hour.
It will also push to increase the minimum wage in industries dominated by women faster with an award rate guarantee of at least 0.5 per cent above inflation in these sectors.
-AAP