Bosses sharpening the axe for penalty rates
Still riding high after its penalty rates win against casual hospitality workers last year, the Restaurant and Catering Association (R&CA) is keen to gouge the award even further in 2015. Not settling for robbing the lowest paid hospitality workers of 25 percent of their Sunday penalty rates, the R&CA also wants to abolish late night loadings for all workers in the industry. These loadings – between 10 and 15 percent of hourly earnings – are paid to staff who work after 10pm.
The R&CA’s claims are part of a bosses’ wish list submitted to the Fair Work Commission in anticipation of its four yearly review of award wages and conditions, which will begin in August. Employer groups are using the review to launch a sweeping attack on penalty rates across a range of industries, including hospitality, retail, pharmacy, fast food, dry cleaning, laundry, hair and beauty, amusements and events.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer Kate Carnell rationalises the cutting of wages by talking about “modern and flexible workplaces” and “a 24/7 economy”. What she means is: “We don’t own as many yachts as we deserve.” For many workers, penalty rates can mean the difference between getting by and not getting by. In the highly casualised industries being threatened, many bosses already take a relaxed approach to award compliance. This attack is about undermining the very few rights of some of the country’s most vulnerable workers, to lay the basis for going after others.
The union response has been lacklustre, to say the least. United Voice represents 120,000 workers who stand to see their take-home pay slashed if penalty rates are cut. A statement released on 3 January by the union’s national secretary David O’Byrne doesn’t utter a word about a fight. Instead O’Byrne accuses employer groups of making “lazy” arguments which are “increasingly out of touch with opinion of leading economists”.
Similarly, the Australian Council of Trade Unions president, Ged Kearney, told the Sydney Morning Herald that unless employers can show “an economic case that penalty rates adversely affect business, they have no case”. This is pretty gutless stuff from our union leaders.
Tut-tutting at the bosses’ economic credentials will not stave off these attacks. If the commission doesn’t give employers what they want this year, they will try again the next; and keep coming back until it does.
Hundreds of thousands of workers will be worse off if penalty rates are cut or abolished. The first step in protecting our pay must be the initiation of a union campaign to organise these workers in defence of our own interests.
