After a protracted negotiation with the AWU, Ingham’s believes that they have made a wages offer which will be accepted by the majority of employees;

The wages offer is;

• Year 1 – 2.5% (backpaid to 1^st May 2021)
• Year 2 – 2.75% (1^st May 2022)
• Year 3 – 2.25% (1^st May 2023)

The AWU does not agree with the company that this is a fair offer for the following reasons:

The increase to CPI (cost of living) is currently sitting at 4.5% for Hobart (Jan 2022 qtr), the previous figures since negotiations started were 3.8% and 3%.

The last available data for private sector wages growth in Tasmania was 3%.

The RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) recently made this forecast, “average earnings per hour is forecast to be growing above 3 per cent by 2023.”

Ingham’s Financials

	2021	2020
Net Profit Before ABS ($M)	331.5	79.1	Increase $252.4M
Net Profit After ABS ($M)	83.3	40.1	Increase $43.2M
Income Tax Rate (%)	26.3	28.5	Decrease $2.2M
Net Profit Margin (%)	12.4	3.1	Increase 9.3%

 

Ingham’s net profit (after ABS) nearly doubled last financial year to $83.3M up from $43.2M. They can afford a fair and decent wage increase for their workers. 

We have seen the costs of everything from groceries, fuel, housing, childcare increasing exponentially over the past decade, whilst our wages have not kept up. Ingham’s is currently offering an incentive of $20 per day to workers to attend work, though this is dressed up as a “thank you” payment, which is equivalent to 10% on top of your current wages. The AWU believes that Ingham’s has the capacity to pass on an increase of above 3% per year and look after the workers at Sorell – who are, let’s not forget, behind in wages compared to other Ingham’s employees.

Please stand with your fellow workers and send a message to the company that their offer is unacceptable and Vote No when given the oppourtunity. This will give the Union the ability to seek improvement and get workers what they deserve, which is a decent pay rise.