Union figureheads have decried the state government's public sector wages policy despite the premier insisting it will deliver wage growth in line with inflation.
ANALYSIS: With close to a dozen industrial agreements under negotiation and a forecasted salaries bill of $16.2 billion, the state government is holding firm on its public sector wages policy.
The Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk has been in the headlines about dysfunction within the Department of Communities. Now, more than $100 million will boost funding.
The public sector union is claiming it has broken the state's wages policy on the back of a new enterprise agreement offer that includes a range of new entitlements such as an extra holiday, superannuation during unpaid parental leave, and cultural leave for Aboriginal employees.
The head of Western Australia's public sector union has defended what is being viewed as a muted response to the biggest slashing of the public service in decades and job losses that might be in the thousands.
Any trade union-backed court challenge to the state government's updated wage policy would result in job losses in the public sector, Treasurer Mike Nahan warned today, as above inflation pay rises would need to be offset through lower staff numbers.
