this post was submitted on 01 May 2026
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What's important to remember is that inflation is always a pay cut. If you do not get a raise above inflation every year, you are making less money each year. Inflation over the last 3 years in Australia was 2.3%; however inflation this year has sharply risen and is on track for 4% by the end of the year (assuming the Iran war ends today and we magically fix the results of the war literally today, neither of which will happen so we can assume it'll be even higher).
This deal, at most, gives a 0.3% pay raise per year. At worst it is a 0% pay raise per year when adjusting for inflation, assuming they actually calculate their cost of living adjustment properly.
So really, the government says these people deserve no raise whatsoever, or no raise that will make any difference. While the union is saying they're valuable enough that they should be paid more, and not just not lose their pay.
has there ever been an agreement to increase wages in line with cpi? how are previous agreements structured?
in my industry (IT) you’re paid the market rate, if inflation goes up but the demand for your job goes down so does your likelihood of being given a salary increase at all
on top of this if your job is made significantly easier or there’s a flood of supply then you may end up looking for another job and accepting a lower wage
i guess it depends on how much they are making now and the connection to cpi
If for example the employee owns their own home and drives an EV then their personal cpi has a negligible hit
but i guess the main thing would be they need to argue what the market is willing to pay vs what the union is asking for (which they didn’t supply for some reason)