Just like in our recent WorkSafe, Parliament, GRV, MinStaff, Legal Aid, State Trustees, Shrine, VBA, VicSES, ES&StateSuper, TAC & the new Creative Arts multi employer EA which includes SLV, MV, NGV, ACMI, and VicScreen, and all following our VPS deal last year, new wage data released by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations shows Australian workers are on collective agreements in record numbers and securing stronger wage growth outcome.

According to the latest ABS data, union members earn $251 per week more than non-union members, around $1,600 for union members compared to $1,349 for non-union members.

The March 2025 Trends in Enterprise Bargaining report shows that employees covered by collective agreements grew to 2.67 million, the highest on record, up from 2.14 million in March 2024.

Employees covered by union-negotiated agreements received an average annualised wage increase of 3.8 per cent, well above the current inflation rate of 2.4 per cent and significantly higher than the 3.2 per cent for employees on non-union agreements.

Administrative and support services led the way with an average increase of 6.3 per cent, followed by construction at 5.5 per cent and retail trade at 4.6 per cent.

This marks the sixth consequence quarter of real wage growth for employees on collective agreements.