State politicians say they deserve the generous pay rises they got this week in part because Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have made their working lives harder.

Victorian MPs were awarded pay rises of up to 11.8 per cent on Tuesday despite more than 400 pleas from the public and government sector employees to peg the politicians' pay closer to the wages earned by ordinary workers.

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The Andrews Labor government was still struggling on Thursday with the fallout from Tuesday’s shock announcement by the Remuneration Tribunal, with the Premier saying potential “windfall” boosts to pensions of retired MPs were “unintended consequences” of the tribunal’s decision.

Some retired MPs and several sitting members including Mr Andrews are entitled to parliamentary pensions worth at least 50 per cent of a backbencher’s salary, which now sits at more than $182,000-a-year.