Electricians miss out on wage increase

A Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has accepted the Australian Industry Group’s (Ai Group) arguments that electrical, mechanical and fabrication tradespersons have equivalent skills and rejected union claims for a more than 4% wage increase for most electricians in the manufacturing and electrical power industries.

“The Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), supported by other unions, sought a 4.55% licence allowance for electricians covered by the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2010 and the Electrical Power Industry Award 2010,” said Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group.

“Most electricians have licences. The claim, if granted, would have led to a remuneration increase of more than $30 a week for electricians and a raft of flow-on claims for similar increases for many thousands of other skilled workers who hold licences or certifications.

“Employers will be pleased to hear that the Fair Work Commission has avoided imposing this unwarranted cost increase upon them,” Willox added.

The AI Group said on top of the weekly wage increase employers would have been out of pocket for further costs as a result of penalties and loadings.

The Master Electricians Association (MEA) also strongly opposed the CEPU’s efforts saying, “This claim is yet another attempt by the CEPU, in a long line of unsuccessful attempts over many decades, to achieve higher remuneration for electricians than the remuneration that applies to other equivalent classifications such as fitters, boilermakers, etc.”

In its case the AI group claimed that imposing the licence allowance would result in ‘double dipping’ by electricians because licensed electricians would be entitled to a double payment for the skills and knowledge which have already been taken into account within the award wage rate.

For further information, go to the AI Group Industry's Extras page.

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