Extract from The Guardian
Australian Council of Trade Unions says Productivity Commission
findings pave the way for similar changes made by John Howard under Work
Choices
The Productivity Commission report wants workers in the hospitality,
restaurant, cafe, entertainment and retail sectors to get paid the same
penalty rate on Sundays as they get on Saturdays.
Photograph: Brook James
Sunday penalty rates for workers in certain sectors should be reduced so they are in line with their Saturday rates, a report into industrial relations reform by the Productivity Commission has recommended.
The report, released on Monday, wants workers in the hospitality, restaurant, cafe, entertainment and retail sectors to get paid the same rate on Saturdays and Sundays. Other shift workers in essential fields such as nursing and law enforcement would not have their weekend rates changed.
The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, did not directly support the changes to penalty rates, saying the government would not play the “political rule in, rule out game”.
The government will hold consultations from the new year to gauge the public’s response to the suggested changes.
“We will seek a mandate from the Australian people,” Cash said. “This is exactly what we promised prior to the last election and it is a commitment that we will keep.
“The government ... is focused on having a mature conversation with the Australian people about the recommendations in this report and the future of the workplace relations system in Australia.”
Cash said the government has not changed its position with regard to giving the Fair Work Commission sole responsibility for setting rates.
“Anyone who says otherwise is deliberately misleading the Australian people,” she said, adding that Labor and the unions had waged a “scare campaign” on the impact of changes in industrial relations.
Industry leaders have said reducing Sunday penalty rates could help create 40,000 jobs.
“We believe that the figure is even higher than that,” the chief executive officer of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kate Carnell, told ABC Radio. “Businesses want to open, but it’s got to be cost-effective. Businesses won’t open if it’s going to cost them money.”
The shadow employment minister, Brendan O’Connor, rejected the suggestion that cutting penalty rates would lead to a rise in employment.
“I think it’s a complete myth to believe that you cut wages to improve employment opportunities,” he said on Monday. “Everyone knows if you have less money in the economy, you’ve got workers spending less on goods and services, you can have an adverse effect on aggregate demand which will indeed contract the labour market.”
The Labor party opposes a cut in penalty rates, saying it will reduce a worker’s income by 10%.
“This will have a significant impact on household budgets across the country,” O’Connor said. “There are many millions of Australian workers that rely upon penalty rates. Some of these recommendations should be immediately rejected by the government.”
He warned that the Coalition had set its sights on other workplace entitlements too.
“Let’s not think that if the Liberal government were to move on this, they won’t move on to public holidays, they won’t move on to shift allowances, they won’t move on cutting the minimum wage,” he said. “This is about a step process, this commission was, of course, undertaken by the government to focus on lowering conditions.”
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) said the report paved the way for similar changes made by the former prime minister John Howard when he enacted the Work Choices policy.
“We have been concerned for some time now that this Productivity Commission inquiry into the system would ultimately be the Trojan horse to bring back further [industrial relations] reform despite what this government would say since they got elected,” the ACTU secretary, Dave Oliver, told ABC Radio.
“There’s no guarantee that in the future we would not look at penalty rates again.”
The report recommended that existing public holidays retain the public holiday rates but said newly designated state or territory holidays should not be subject to holiday rates or a day of leave.
It also said businesses should be allowed to offer new employees a statutory contract, called an enterprise contract, that would remove some existing award conditions on a take it or leave it basis.
Furthermore, the better off overall test in individual contracts or enterprise agreements should be replaced with a no-advantage test, the report recommended.
Oliver said individual contracts formed the “centrepiece” of the Work Choices policy.
He said they were inherently unfair because big employers had more powers than individual employees to negotiate conditions.
A union-led backlash to Work Choices contributed to the downfall of the Howard government in the 2007 federal election, prompting Tony Abbott to reassure voters in 2010 that the policy was “dead, buried and cremated”.
But he had offered an olive branch to employers, suggesting industrial relations reforms could be introduced if the Coalition secured a second term in office.
“Obviously I can’t say that there will never, ever, ever, for 100 or a 1,000 years time be any change to any aspect of industrial legislation, but the Fair Work Act will not be amended in the next term of the government if we are in power,” Abbott, the then opposition leader, had said.
The Productivity Commission report recommended that South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland remove trading restrictions, and that the wage structure of apprenticeships and traineeships be reviewed to allow employers to offer pay rises based on competency.
It also said the maximum penalty for unlawful industrial action should be trebled.
The report, released on Monday, wants workers in the hospitality, restaurant, cafe, entertainment and retail sectors to get paid the same rate on Saturdays and Sundays. Other shift workers in essential fields such as nursing and law enforcement would not have their weekend rates changed.
The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, did not directly support the changes to penalty rates, saying the government would not play the “political rule in, rule out game”.
The government will hold consultations from the new year to gauge the public’s response to the suggested changes.
“We will seek a mandate from the Australian people,” Cash said. “This is exactly what we promised prior to the last election and it is a commitment that we will keep.
“The government ... is focused on having a mature conversation with the Australian people about the recommendations in this report and the future of the workplace relations system in Australia.”
Cash said the government has not changed its position with regard to giving the Fair Work Commission sole responsibility for setting rates.
“Anyone who says otherwise is deliberately misleading the Australian people,” she said, adding that Labor and the unions had waged a “scare campaign” on the impact of changes in industrial relations.
Industry leaders have said reducing Sunday penalty rates could help create 40,000 jobs.
“We believe that the figure is even higher than that,” the chief executive officer of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kate Carnell, told ABC Radio. “Businesses want to open, but it’s got to be cost-effective. Businesses won’t open if it’s going to cost them money.”
The shadow employment minister, Brendan O’Connor, rejected the suggestion that cutting penalty rates would lead to a rise in employment.
“I think it’s a complete myth to believe that you cut wages to improve employment opportunities,” he said on Monday. “Everyone knows if you have less money in the economy, you’ve got workers spending less on goods and services, you can have an adverse effect on aggregate demand which will indeed contract the labour market.”
The Labor party opposes a cut in penalty rates, saying it will reduce a worker’s income by 10%.
“This will have a significant impact on household budgets across the country,” O’Connor said. “There are many millions of Australian workers that rely upon penalty rates. Some of these recommendations should be immediately rejected by the government.”
He warned that the Coalition had set its sights on other workplace entitlements too.
“Let’s not think that if the Liberal government were to move on this, they won’t move on to public holidays, they won’t move on to shift allowances, they won’t move on cutting the minimum wage,” he said. “This is about a step process, this commission was, of course, undertaken by the government to focus on lowering conditions.”
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) said the report paved the way for similar changes made by the former prime minister John Howard when he enacted the Work Choices policy.
“We have been concerned for some time now that this Productivity Commission inquiry into the system would ultimately be the Trojan horse to bring back further [industrial relations] reform despite what this government would say since they got elected,” the ACTU secretary, Dave Oliver, told ABC Radio.
“There’s no guarantee that in the future we would not look at penalty rates again.”
The report recommended that existing public holidays retain the public holiday rates but said newly designated state or territory holidays should not be subject to holiday rates or a day of leave.
It also said businesses should be allowed to offer new employees a statutory contract, called an enterprise contract, that would remove some existing award conditions on a take it or leave it basis.
Furthermore, the better off overall test in individual contracts or enterprise agreements should be replaced with a no-advantage test, the report recommended.
Oliver said individual contracts formed the “centrepiece” of the Work Choices policy.
He said they were inherently unfair because big employers had more powers than individual employees to negotiate conditions.
A union-led backlash to Work Choices contributed to the downfall of the Howard government in the 2007 federal election, prompting Tony Abbott to reassure voters in 2010 that the policy was “dead, buried and cremated”.
But he had offered an olive branch to employers, suggesting industrial relations reforms could be introduced if the Coalition secured a second term in office.
“Obviously I can’t say that there will never, ever, ever, for 100 or a 1,000 years time be any change to any aspect of industrial legislation, but the Fair Work Act will not be amended in the next term of the government if we are in power,” Abbott, the then opposition leader, had said.
The Productivity Commission report recommended that South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland remove trading restrictions, and that the wage structure of apprenticeships and traineeships be reviewed to allow employers to offer pay rises based on competency.
It also said the maximum penalty for unlawful industrial action should be trebled.
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