30 november 2023

STATE WAGE CASE - PRELIMINARY DECISION FROM QIRC – 5.75% WAGE RISE PENDING

State Wage Case proceedings ongoing:
In most years, the annual Industrial Commission Decision for the State Wage Case is published at some point between September and November, with any resulting wage rise backdated to 1 September of that year.

While a 2023 Decision will be published and there will be backdating of the amount (more on that below), this year the case has been complicated by changes to the Industrial Relations Act about who also gets any wage rise (other than award dependent employees like Auxiliary Firefighters).  As a result, the State Wage Case hearings are ongoing and are likely to extend into early 2024.

This means your wage rise can’t occur until the Decision is published (whenever that may be, likely some months away). But as I’ve mentioned, however long this takes, backdating will occur to 1 September 2023.

Preliminary wage adjustment notification by QIRC:
Because the court proceedings are ongoing for the State Wage Case, on 17 November 2023 the QIRC chose to inform all parties to the proceedings that they consider it appropriate to raise your wages by 5.75%.  This is a good outcome for all those employed under the Auxiliary Firefighters Award – State 2016. Allowances will also likely be adjusted.

I will provide a full explanation of the Decision of the QIRC once it’s published in 2024.

But this good news was worth sharing, even though those wage rises and your backpay are likely some months away.

If you’ve got any questions about this, email us at ufu@ufuq.com.au and we will try to reply promptly, but please note that we can’t provide any further information on the proceedings our how long they may take to arrive at a published Decision.

John Oliver - General Secretary