Higher wages growth means it pays to be in a union

A record 2.8 million working Australians are now covered by collective bargaining agreements, delivering higher annual wage increases – an increase from 2.68 million in the previous quarter.

More than a million extra workers have the benefit of a collective agreement since the Secure Jobs, Better Pay laws passed in December 2022, or around a thousand extra workers a day.

The Trends in Federal Enterprise Bargaining Report out today shows that workers covered by union negotiated collective agreements get higher wage increases than those on agreements without unions.

Union negotiated collective agreements delivered average annual wage increases of 4.2%, compared to wage increases of 3% under agreements where no unions were involved, according to the Department of Workplace Relations’ Report.

With inflation now at 2.1%, workers on collective agreements are seeing strong real wages growth, to make up for nearly a decade of wage stagnation and the recent cost of living crisis.

Private sector workers led the pay uplift, winning average annual wage rises of 4.3%, up from 3.9% in the March quarter –the highest level of wages growth on this measure since 2009.

There were 839 new union negotiated agreements registered in the June quarter, delivering wage increases for an extra 177,500 workers.

The industries with the highest wages growth were construction (5.7%), health care and social assistance (4.5%), and electricity, gas, water and waste services (4.5%).

The new laws are delivering for workers on multi-employer agreements, with 247,500 workers on a current multi-employer agreement in June 2025, up from just 46,200 in December 2022.

More than 200,000 workers have been added to multi-employer agreements since the Secure Jobs, Better Pay laws passed. Workers on a current multi-employer agreement saw a wage increase of 5.1% in June 2025.

Of the states, New South Wales recorded the highest average annualised wage increase of 5%, followed by the ACT on 4.4%, South Australia 4.3%, Victoria 4.2%, Western Australia 4.0%, followed by Queensland and Tasmania on 3.5%.

Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus:

“More workers than ever are securing good wage increases through collective bargaining. The statistics clearly show that the biggest pay increases are won through union negotiated agreements. If you negotiate as a union the average pay rise is 4.2% and if you do not it is 3%.

“Union members are going about addressing cost-of-living pressures by demanding and winning pay increases that are much better than inflation.  

“The revival of collective bargaining has occurred because of the new laws the Labor Government bought in two and a half years ago.  These laws were essential to kick start wages growth as collective bargaining is the engine of wages growth.

“If you want a decent pay rise, join your union. When workers are members of a union they get better pay rises, which should not be surprising as banding together gives people much more bargaining power and expertise than they would have by themselves. There has never been a better time to join a union.

“Before these IR reforms, around 1.8 million workers were covered by collective agreements. Today that number has grown to 2.8 million workers and wages growth has been above inflation for seven quarters helping workers to get ahead.”