Hospitality workers’ union needs to fight for penalty rates

Employers in the hospitality industry are celebrating a Fair Work Commission decision allowing them to cut the wages of up to 40,000 workers from 1 July. The commission has ruled for a 25 percent cut to the Sunday penalty rates paid to casual hospitality workers on the two lowest pay grades of the restaurant industry award.

Hospitality bosses have been campaigning against penalty rates for years. One of the most outspoken has been Chris Morris, founder of hospitality empire Colonial Leisure Group and a former boss of mine. Morris owns 10 pubs in Victoria alone. Last year he opined to a sympathetic ear at the Australian that penalty rates are “far too high”. “It’s just impossible to make money if you are forced to pay penalty rates”, he said.

Somehow, though, Morris has managed. Hope against hope, he’s done the impossible. According to Forbes, Morris has amassed a net personal fortune of $590 million. His assets include a fleet of helicopters and an 18th century castle in the UK.

While bloated millionaires like Morris cry foul, hospitality workers rely on penalty rates to survive. But Morris isn’t the only boss who claims that their workers are “happy” to be paid less money or that they “prefer” working anti-social hours. As part of its campaign, the industry has produced a string of bosses willing to attest to the needs and motivations of their workers.

Their claims are bullshit. After 15 years in the industry, I have witnessed how high staff turnover and bullying from management goons leave workers vulnerable and under pressure to take on whatever work is offered.

The acting national secretary of United Voice (the hospitality workers’ union) has pointed out the wage cut will predominantly affect workers who are low-skilled, female and young. “This is a highly vulnerable group of workers who will struggle with any reduction in wages and conditions”, he said after the commission’s decision. “The goal is to cut workers’ pay so employers can have bigger profits.”

Hospitality workers represent 25 percent of the union’s membership. While its condemnation of the penalty rates ruling is welcome, much more than fighting words is urgently needed to take on this attack.