Australia Trade Unions To Push For Pension Fund Increases
Monday March 3rd, 2008 / 23h54
CANBERRA -(Dow Jones)- The Australian Council of Trade Unions is meeting Tuesday to discuss a range of alternative wage claim measures, including increasing the level of mandatory employer pension contributions, aimed at boosting wages without triggering a wage inflation break-out. The national trade union body said in a statement it will discuss bargaining tactics for the upcoming wage round, including a call to increase the amount employers must contribute to their employee pension savings to 12% from 9% by 2012, at a meeting of its executive in Melbourne. The meeting comes as the Reserve Bank of Australia is widely expected by economists to raise official interest rates later Tuesday by 25 basis points to 7.25%, to curb accelerating inflation pressures that have arisen in part due to wage increases in a tight labor market. "We can rebalance some of that (wage) growth back into measures like superannuation (pension savings), like skills, like job security and equal treatment, investment in climate change solutions - things that set businesses up for the next generation," ACTU President Sharan Burrow told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. But she said the ACTU will also continue to push for wage increases. "There is no (wages) trade-off here, there is a mixed set of ambitions that go to campaign for the rights, the security, the entitlements and a fair share of the nation's economic growth," Burrow said. Australian Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said Sunday the government is considering measures to boost private savings, notably pension savings, but no decisions have yet been made. Australia has a system of government-mandated employer contributions to pension funds. Increasing the compulsory employer contribution could lead to a backlash from employers. -By Rachel Pannett, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-6208-0901; rachel.pannett@dowjones.com
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