Workers ‘kicked in guts’ over penalty rates

Bill Shorten says the rates cut decision means no penalty rates are safe under the Turnbull government.

Workers protest the change to Sunday penalty rates in Brisbane. Picture: Darren England

Sunday and public holiday penalty rates paid to retail, hospitality and fast-food workers will be cut following a historic ruling by the Fair Work Commission.

Read more about the specific cuts here. In the meantime, here’s some of the reaction.

Labor

Bill Shorten says Australian workers have been “kicked in the guts” by the decision.

The Labor leader said the decision meant no penalty rates were safe under the Turnbull government.

“We will do everything in our power in the parliament and the courts to remedy this bad decision,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney today.

On Twitter earlier, Mr Shorten said the Prime Minister had got what he had long wanted.

Turnbull and his MPs have been pushing to cut penalty rates for years - and now it's happened. #auspol

— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) February 23, 2017

The Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations followed in Mr Shorten’s footsteps.

Make no mistake Malcolm Turnbull and his Liberals have always wanted this cut to penalty rates. Labor will keep up the fight #auspol

— Brendan O'Connor (@BOConnorMP) February 23, 2017

Liberal Party

But Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said it was an “inconvenient truth” for Labor that Mr Shorten as workplace minister changed the Fair Work Act to require the Fair Work Commission to review penalty rates as part of a four-yearly process. “Today’s decision ... is, therefore, a direct result of the review process put in place by Bill Shorten,” Senator Cash said in a statement.

“Any suggestion by Bill Shorten and the Labor Party that they do not accept this decision is highly hypocritical.”

Speaking earlier, Senator Cash said “when it comes to the issue of penalty rates, Bill Shorten has a glass jaw.”

.@SenatorCash: when it comes to penalty rates, @billshortenmp has a glass jaw #auspol #penaltyrates MORE: https://t.co/9A1YfoBcI3 pic.twitter.com/uLkDx22BT8

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 23, 2017

She said had already begun receiving emails of alarm on Sunday penalty rates being abolished. “Shame on those that have instigated this scare campaign, that was not the decision of the Independent Fair Work Commission.”

Ms Cash added that nurses and emergency services will not be impacted by today’s decision.

Eric Abetz.

Former Employment Minister and Liberal MP Eric Abetz said the commission had been “mugged” by the reality that its previous rejection of employer attempts to cut penalties cost jobs and investment.

“This is a decision that came after three years of deliberations from the Fair Work Commission established by Labor, by appointments by Labor – including Bill Shorten’s hand-picked President and made possible by legislation passed by Bill Shorten himself. Particularly given these facts, Mr Shorten, Labor and the union movement must accept this decision.”

Fair Work Commission

Justice Iain Ross.

In handing down the decision, Commission president Iain Ross said Sunday rates would be reduced but not to the lesser Saturday rate sought by business. Justice Ross said workers who gave evidence to the hearings put a human face on the impact of the cuts.

“Many of these employees earn just enough to cover weekly living expenses, saving money is difficult and unexpected expenses produce considerable financial distress,’’ he said.

“The Full Bench concluded that appropriate transitional arrangements are necessary to mitigate the hardship caused to employees who work on Sundays.”

The unions

President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Ged Kearney said the pay cuts would hurt one million employees and create a class of working poor.

“This is a bad day for workers in this country,” she told reporters.

“Hospitality, restaurant, fast food, retail and pharmacy workers will have their Sunday penalty rates cut between 25% and 50%,’’ she said.

“Public holiday pay was also slashed by up to 25%. This is a loss of up to $6,000 per year for some workers. No worker will be better off as a result of this decision.

Ged Kearney talks to reporters in Melbourne today. Picture: AAP

But Former ACTU president Martin Ferguson called on unions to respect the decision.

Mr Ferguson, chair of the Tourism Accommodation Australia, said industry “haven’t got everything we want” from the decision.

“We respect their decision and we will try and make it work,’’ he said. “For us, the objective was to modernise the award, not to abolish penalty rates, but to make it relevant to the 21st century as a means of employing more Australians.”

The Greens

Adam Bandt.

The Greens are calling on Labor and the crossbench to support a move to stop the commission’s decision.

“This is a body blow to the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on penalty rates to make ends meet,” industrial relations spokesman Adam Bandt said in a statement.

Retailers

Russell Zimmerman.

The Australian Retailers Association says reducing Sunday penalty rates will mean retailers can hire more people on their busiest trading day of the week.

Executive director Russell Zimmerman said many retailers had been forced to close their doors on Sunday.

“Reducing Sunday rates from double-time to time-and-a-half will give employers approximately a four to five per cent reduction on wages, which they will be able to reinvest in employing more staff, increasing employment in the retail industry,” he said in a statement.

Labor senator Murray Watt ridiculed key business groups including The Australian Retailers Association that pushed for the cut.

Hey @retailaustralia & @RestCatering - can I make appointment to meet you about #penaltyrates on Sunday? Coz, you know, 24/7 economy right?

— Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) February 23, 2017

Fast food workers

The retail and fast food workers union labelled the decision a disgrace. The SDA said Mr Turnbull should act to protect low-paid employees as the ruling would cut the already low pay of hundreds of thousands of workers. “(It’s) effectively created a two-tier working system, where retail and fast food workers are less important than other workers,” SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said in a statement.

He said it was appalling that the Turnbull government has been soft on multinational tax avoiders and called for cuts to company tax rates but had done nothing to protect the take-home pay of retail workers.

Workers protesting in Brisbane. Picture: Darren England

Business

Business sector lawyer Nigel Ward said the decision was the best outcome for Australian businesses.

“We spoke to a lot of small shops when we prepared the evidence and pretty much everyone said to us ‘I’m the owner of the shop and if I have to open on a Sunday I’ve got to come here and work myself, I’ve got to work seven days a week’,” Mr Ward told reporters.

“It was a realistic approach to changing penalty rates in the modern era. “It will mean extra hours for people on a Sunday.”

Queensland

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she understood how important penalty rates were to those who needed them but Queenslander’s had to “accept the umpire’s decision”.

Meanwhile Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Ros McLennan called the decision “voodoo economics” saying it will rip $1.2 billion from the state economy without creating any jobs.

“It’s a disgraceful decision,” Ms McLennan told AAP.

A crowd of about 100 union members gathered outside Fair Worrk Commission’s offices in Brisbane’s CBD as the news broke, before marching to federal offices at Waterfront Place.

Community leaders joined to say that an attack on the economy was an attack on the community.

Very Rev Peter Catt says working Sundays costs the community dearly & workers should be compensated by #penaltyrates pic.twitter.com/Q9qstCj63X

— QCU (@TheQCU) February 23, 2017

Victoria

On Twitter, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said people relied on penalty rates.

People rely on penalty rates. I stand with all these workers, all these mums and dads, all these young people, every day of the week.

— Daniel Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) February 23, 2017

Industrial Relations Minister Natalie Hutchins told the Victorian parliament of the FWC’s decision “with much anguish”.

She used the story of a 26-year-old midwifery student, paying her way through university by working weekends for a catering company to show the importance of penalty rates.

“As she said earlier today, ‘For me, penalty rates are the difference between being able to buy books for school or not. I give up my weekends because I know that it’s good money and means I can get myself through university’,” Ms Hutchins said in parliament.