AWU pushes for 5 per cent- above inflation - pay rises

The AWU is pushing for minimum wage claims of 5 per cent a year at several major listed companies, including a planned strike at a strategic CSR sugar refinery, just as the Queensland cane harvest gathers pace.

The others facing the pay claims by the Australian Workers' Union in Victoria include Orica, OneSteel, BlueScope and Blue Circle Cement.

Today's Australian Financial Review (AFR), Australia's top daily business newspaper, has published a major article about the AWU's pay push.

The AFR reports that the AWU has given notice of an indefinite stoppage starting tomorrow at a big refinery in Melbourne operated by Refined Sugar Australia, which is 75 per cent owned by CSR with a minority stake held by Mackay Sugar Co-operative.

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CSR spokesman Martin Cole told the AFR the company had been in constructive negotiations for a new enterprise agreement, and had made a fair pay offer of 4 per cent a year for three years which compared favorably with other major food manufacturers.

"We don't believe the historic approach of resorting to industrial action is helpful for the company or the employees," he said.

The AWU's Victorian Branch Secretary, Cesar Melhem, told the AFR that businesses were raising prices to cover costs such as petrol and interest rates, and his union would seek minimum pay rises of 5 per cent across a range of big industrial companies.

Workers should have the same entitlement to put the price of their labour up," he said. "Inflation is 4.2 per cent so it's fair and reasonable to seek a 5 per cent minimum."

Mr Melhem said the AWU would conduct a secret ballot on taking industrial action at a chlorine plant in Melbourne's west owned by Orica and would push pay claims of at least 5 per cent at Victorian sites run by BlueScope - including its steel mill at Western Port south of Melbourne - OneSteel and Blue Circle Cement.

Mr Melhem said the AWU's Victorian Branch had also struck a three-year pay deal with builder John Holland covering major civil construction, which included over-all pay rises of 14.5 per cent plus an extra $20 a week in superannuation.