Calls for Coalition to protect Aussie workers pay ahead of election

A major union is calling on the Coalition to pledge support for retail workers’ penalty rates ahead of a Fair Work fight.

Aussie workers are calling on opposition leader Peter Dutton to pledge to protect penalty rates, following a push from big businesses to scrap them.

In a submission to a Fair Work Commission review, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has proposed allowing some staff to opt out of penalty rates, overtime, some allowances and rostering arrangements in favour of a 25 per cent pay rise. The changes would impact about 353,200 employees earning between $53,680 and $61,958 per year.

Mr Dutton has been called on to back penalty rates for workers. Picture: Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

The unions and Labor government say the change would leave workers with less pay, while opposition leader Peter Dutton has not spoken on the submission.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said Mr Dutton had previously voted eight times against penalty rates since 2017, and called on him to change his tune ahead of the 2025 Federal Election, expected to be called imminently.

“This is a test of priorities for Peter Dutton. Will he be on the side of working people or on the side of big business? It’s time the Opposition Leader gave voters clarity about where he stands on penalty rates, wages and work rights,” she said.

Ms O’Neil said Aussies should ban together to protect penalty rights for retail workers, warning of a domino effect which would see further cuts across the board for millions of other workers.

“The last thing Australian workers can afford is a pay cut from Australia’s biggest companies. The Australian Retail Association’s application is an insult to hardworking Australians who rely on their penalty rates and work rights to make ends meet,” she said.

Earlier on Friday Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt called on the workplace umpire to stop large retailers including Coles, Kmart and Woolworths from cutting penalty rates and break entitlements.

The rare intervention from a cabinet minister was detailed in his submission to the Fair Work Commission arguing against an application by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) to streamline the General Retail Industry Award 2020.

Retail giants like Coles, Woolworths, Mecca and Kmart have backed the proposed changes put forward by the Australian Retailers Association. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

The award covers retail workers in clothing food, furniture and news agency businesses, with major employers including the supermarket giants, plus Kmart, Costco, Mecca and 7-Eleven stores backing the ARA’s push.

Senator Watt said the changes could risk retail wages going backwards, and feared changes to the award would remove the “safety net” for workers.

Opposing the changes, he said it was “Labor’s longstanding position is that workers’ wages should not go backwards”.

“If you give up your nights and weekends to keep Australia fed and clothed, you deserve your penalty rates,” he said.

“We’re focused on helping Australians earn more, while the big supermarkets and retailers are trying to cut their penalty rates.”

He said any changes which would result in workers trading-off award entitlements should be done through enterprise bargaining with employers and their unions, and “not through variations to awards”.

“Awards are supposed to be a safety net to protect all workers,” he said.

“They should not be varied to remove crucial entitlements like penalty rates for low-paid workers.”

Employment Minister Murray Watt said award entitlement changes should be done through enterprise bargaining, not changes to the award. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

The ARA has argued the current award, which detail “994 individual pay rates spanning 96 pages” is “unnecessarily complex and misaligned with the evolving needs of the retail workforce”.

“The ARA’s proposed variations to the GRIA seek to promote clearer guidelines around working conditions, empowering employees to understand their rights while also fostering greater transparency and flexibility in working arrangements,” the industry body said in a statement in January.

“The proposed changes are focused on creating a more flexible, modern system that better balances the needs of both workers and employers.”

It has denied it is trying to abolish penalty rates, overtime and meal breaks, and said its proposal would allow senior employees, like salaried managers to earn a “higher rolled-up rate” calculated at least 125 per cent of the minimum base rate of pay.

The ARA also say the key salary amendments would only applied to senior salaried managers which only make up a “small minority of retail employees in a store”.