A win for democracy

The parliament has today rejected the Government’s attempt to change the law to override the PSA‘s pay win in the Industrial Relations Commission

The Opposition, The Greens, Christian Democrats (Nile) and The Shooters and Fishers Party combined to vote down the regulation the Government had made to discount the 2.5% pay cap by the 0.25% increase in the superannuation guarantee.

The Government introduced the regulation to change the law – and its own policy – when the Industrial Commission ruled in favour of the PSA, stating that the 2.5% was not to be cut by the rise in super.

The Government has said that it would appeal the Commission’s decision if the regulation was disallowed.

The Government should now honour its own wages policy and immediately pay the full 2.5% increase to all public sector workers.

They have lost in court and now they have lost in the parliament. Its time they accepted the umpires decision and not delay payment of the full increase with further legal manoeuvring.

The Government should also stop threatening that the super increase will lead to further job losses. On their own budget figures they can absorb the increase and still have a surplus by the end of the forward estimates.

Paying superannuation increases in full will not put the State’s budget into the red. But cutting jobs will further damage services to the community and the economy.

 

Anne Gardiner
General Secretary
PSA of NSW