Labor could face a roadblock on its jobs and skills promise unless it agrees to fast-track wage increases for women and low income earners.
The Greens are threatening to withhold support for any legislation that comes out of the Albanese government’s jobs and skills summit unless it agrees to their demands.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said his party would fight in the Senate to amend any Bills that came out of the summit in order “to lift wages now”.
Mr Bandt said the Greens would push for the government to play a greater role in setting wages, especially in sectors where women were the majority of the workforce.
The minor party will seek two amendments to the Fair Work Act to lift pay rates.
The Greens are proposing that the minimum wage be lifted to $23.76 per hour, which would be “phased in” by the Fair Work Commission.
The industrial umpire in its most recent annual wage rise review decided on an increase of $40 per week to the national minimum wage, setting the rate at $21.38 per hour.
The Greens will also push for minimum wages in industries dominated by women to be lifted more quickly by guaranteeing award rates will rise by at least 0.5 per cent above the official inflation rate.
Mr Bandt is expected to outline these and other proposed reforms to the Fair Work Act in a speech to a pre-jobs summit event hosted by employment legal firm Kingston Reid in Canberra next week.
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