The pharmacy award minimum pay rate has seen a 3.5% increase as per a national wage case decision handed down by the Fair Work Commission. Effective from 1st July, the national minimum wage is $18.93 per hour, equating to a weekly figure of $719.20. In addition, rates under the Pharmacy Award have been increased due to the ruling, with the weekly minimum for a Pharmacist Manager being $1,290.90 or $33.97 per hour, Pharmacists in Charge with a minimum of $30.48 per hour or $1,158.40 per week and Experienced Pharmacists wages are $1,131.80 weekly or $29.78 per hour. The revised rates also affect other classifications including Pharmacy Student (year 1, 2, 3 and 4), Pharmacy Intern in the first and second half of training, and the Pharmacist grade which will now have a minimum hourly rate of $27.19 or $1,033.40 per week.
The President of union group Professional Pharmacists Australia (PPA), Geoff March, welcomed the review as a “step in the right direction for pharmacist pay”. He noted that the Fair Work Commission had not yet ruled on the organisation’s recent case which proposes increasing the pay of community pharmacists by as much as 30% (PD 21 Aug 2017).
Hearings in the long-running “work value” case wrapped up last month, with March saying “PPA believes passionately in the value of pharmacists and wants to see their pay fairly reflect it”.
Hearings in the “work value” case concluded last month with Geoff March saying “PPA believes passionately in the value of pharmacists and wants to see their pay fairly reflect it”.
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