Update: $30 Minimum Wage Increase

A couple of days ago, it was mentioned that the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions) wanted a $30 minimum wage increase.

A response has come from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry:

Australia's lowest paid wage earners would receive an extra $5.80 a week under a proposal from employer group the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

In its reply to the ACTU's pitch for a $30 increase to the minimum wage, the ACCI says many small businesses would suffer if the ACTU's claim was approved by the Fair Work Commission. 

Unlike in the United States, a government agency, not the Legislative or Executive Branch, sets the minimum wage.  No doubt though, if we tried to set up a agency in this country to regulate the minimum wage, it would get caught up in the political parlor games.

What's interesting is not that the unions are probably not going to get the $30 increase they want.  It's that they are going to get an increase.  Thanks to the Chamber of Commerce lobbyists, a proposal to raise the minimum wage never gets anywhere in this country.  But I forgot, we're the greatest country on Earth.