If you are 21 years old and starting your first job, the last thing you will want to think about is superannuation, but getting on the right track at the start of your working life could mean a couple of hundred thousand dollars extra in retirement savings.
It’s a message the union movement is trying to push, with a campaign to raise superannuation contributions and promote the use of low-fee industry funds. The AWU has joined forces with the ACTU to back proposed federal government reforms to increase compulsory employer superannuation contributions from 9 per cent to 12 per cent by 2020.
The reforms will also make it easier to transfer superannuation contributions between schemes and will establish MySuper, a new default fund, with no entry fees and a ban on other hidden costs for members.
The ACTU’s Stand up for Super campaign is urging members to sign a petition backing the reforms and highlighting what they will lose in retirement income if the Coalition succeeds in blocking the changes. [read more]
All electoral matter is authorised by Paul Howes, National Secretary