The unions are using the end of the workers’ pay to persuade the government to raise the minimum wage, saying low-income workers will spend the money and promoting economic recovery.
Calling the end of the government’s wage subsidy a “gloomy” day for workers, Australian Trade Union Council secretary Sally McManus said she was concerned about the impact of removing the pandemic support measure, with up to 150,000 people expected to lose their jobs as a result.
“Until the pandemic is over there is still a need to support businesses that have been unjustly affected,” McManus told the ABC.
“The pandemic is still with us and will be with us until the vaccine is rolled out in our country and around the world. ”
She also urged the wage subsidy to be recouped from employers who have benefited from the scheme, saying it could be redirected to redundant workers.
“It is utterly disheartening that they have taken that money with them and put it in bonuses or for profits,” McManus said.
“If they gave that money back, that money could be sent to those companies, those employees, who will lose their jobs because a worker has been laid off. pull back. ”
McManus said raising the minimum wage of $ 26 a week from July 1 would also help it recover from the economic downturn caused by a pandemic, saying it was a “small sum”. for employers.
“One thing we all know is that people on the lowest wages, on the lowest wages, spend every cent they earn, so it’s a very effective way of doing ensuring that local businesses, small businesses, get customers through the door, ”she said.
“The worst thing we can do about getting over it is not having consumer confidence or consumer spending because that’s what keeps small businesses alive, so if we have a V shape to get back to jobs and for profits, we will have to be there for a salary as well. “
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has called for employee pay to remain in place, saying many businesses would be left without income as a result.
“If the rationale for why these payments were still in place today is why would you remove that support?” Albanese said.
“What we would like to see is targeted support, so that businesses where there is a situation, worthy of… wage subsidies, to maintain that relationship between employers and employees, would be possible to keep going. ”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said employee pay met its “life-saving and life-saving” goals, with 3.8 million Australians in work at the height of the pandemic .
He said 2.8m people had “graduated” from the program, and now the government was focusing economic support in other forms, including the air and art packages.
“There is no doubt that there are some businesses that will continue to make it difficult once the custodian ends, but as a program, it was always temporary,” Frydenberg said.
He said the program needed to end because keeping it in place could hamper the movement of workers during the economic recovery, and promised that further support measures would be announced in the next budget. months.
“Many people and many sectors across the economy and the sectors that continue to do so are making it difficult and just as the Morrison government got its back at the beginning of this crisis, through this crisis, our back right to the end of this crisis, ”he said.
“There is a lot of support, money that is flowing out every day into the pockets of households and into business balance sheets to drive economic activity. ”