‘Monumentally out of touch’: Union boss slams CEOs

A union boss has come out swinging following reports some of Australia’s richest people want to cut penalty rates.

A union boss has come out swinging following reports chief executives from Australia’s top businesses have discussed removing penalty rates for weekend and night work.

The chief executives, who have pushed their case with both Labor and the Coalition, labelled penalty rates and the right to disconnect from work “out of kilter” with the rest of the world.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus labelled the conversations “stupid”.

“It is monumentally out of touch and stupid, CEO’s not realising penalty rates is people’s take-home pay, so when they say that penalty rates are outdated or should go they are saying people’s pay should be cut,” she said.

“Now imagine how they would feel if someone said their take-home pay should be cut.”

Ms McManus said penalty rates protected “the weekend”, with more staff likely to be rostered on if businesses could pay workers less.

“You would lose completely any time in the community when you do things together. Nothing has changed, with schools running Monday to Friday, so there are needs for parents, with the weekend making a community,” she said.

Union boss Sally McManus said plans to remove penalty rates were ‘out of touch’. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

The union boss said the chief executives saying penalty rates needed to be cut were “massively out of touch”.

“Not one of them would be on less than a million dollars a year,” she said.

“Its disrespectful of them to say workers should get out of bed for less.”

Ms McManus said workers in Australia’s lowest-paid industries would struggle to pay their bills if penalty rates were cut.

“Weekend penalty rates and night penalty rates basically make wages (in some sectors) more liveable and people wouldn’t be able to pay their rents if they weren’t being paid penalty rates,” she said.

Business leaders are pushing both major parties to commit to productivity boosts, including cutting red tape and tax reforms. This push would include removing penalty rates for the weekend and getting rid of the newly created right-to-disconnect laws.

Ms McManus said penalty rates helped families pay the bills. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

The chief executives’ move follows a major push from retailers, including Woolworths and Coles, to cut overtime and penalty rates.

Coles and Woolworths have joined forces with Kmart and Costco to publicly back the Australian Retailers Association’s application in the Fair Work Commission to scrap overtime, evening and weekend penalty rates, work breaks and reduce rest times between shifts from 12 hours to 10 hours.

The proposal calls for salaried worker earning $53,670 and above on the retail award to lose their penalty rates, overtime, annual leave loading, allowances, breaks and protections around hours of work in exchange for a 25 per cent pay increase to buy out award safeguards.

Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has talked up the Australian economy while saying the country needs to do more to boost productivity.

“Inflation is down, unemployment is still low, and, unlike most of our peers, we’ve avoided even one negative quarter of growth,” Mr Chalmers said.

“You’d know and appreciate how unusual this is in historical terms and in contemporary global experience as well.

“Every other time we’ve gone through an inflation spike, it’s been followed by higher unemployment.”

He said there was a five-pillar plan to help increase productivity based on creating a more dynamic and resilient economy, building a skilled and adaptable workforce, harnessing data and digital technology, delivering quality care more efficiently and investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation.

“Our economy is at its best when its private companies are powering growth and propelling us forward.

“This is what guides our productivity agenda.”

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor reportedly told the chief executives that the Coalition wanted a private sector-led economic recovery.

“If we don’t fix approvals, if we don’t make it easier to invest, if we don’t encourage investment in every way we can, then we won’t see the resumption of productivity that we desperately need in this country,” he said.

Ms McManus said the Liberal Party had previously opposed penalty rates for workers.

“Well, the Coalition voted against penalty rates eight times over the last decade, so they are on the record for not supporting penalty rates, which has been a big problem,” she said.

Originally published as ‘Monumentally out of touch’: Union boss slams CEOs