A corporate fatcat who told Australia's lowest paid workers to tighten their belts and live with paltry wages has been slammed for hypocrisy after giving himself a pay rise of almost $40,000.
Fair Pay Commissioner Ian Harper - who works for the Federal Government advising on pay standards in addition to private business interests - got a $38,000 pay rise while he considered the plight of the nation's minimum wage workers last year and decided to award them just $10 extra a week.
Prof Harper's own pay packet for his part-time job advising the Federal Government on fair wages has jumped 47 per cent from $81,445 to $119,830 a year after the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal awarded him a rise.
He and other commissioners decided in June to lift the pay of minimum wage earners to $522.12 a week, a rise of just $10.26 and the lowest yearly increase in over a decade.
Unions were angered by Prof Harper's big rise, saying workers at the lowest end of the scale were being short-changed.
"This is just pure hypocrisy," ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said.
"No one is worth a 47 per cent increase. Low wage workers can't bear the brunt of Australia's economic conditions."