Productivity Commission recommendations hit retail workers hard

SDA Secretary Peter Malinauskas is disappointed in the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to reduce penalty rates for retail workers in their draft Workplace Relations report released today.

 

The SDA opposes the recommendation of a two-class system where low paid workers don’t get rewarded for giving up family time but skilled workers do, which would cut weekend penalty rates for retail workers.
“Access to quality time off to spend with family and friends is just as important to retail workers as it is to any other worker in our community. It is a perverse suggestion by the Productivity Commission that some members of the community deserve a weekend and others do not.
“On what basis does the Productivity Commission think it can dictate that weekends exist for nurses and policemen but not for checkout operators?
“As a society we should not be saying that it’s ok for a nurse to be recognised for giving up family time, but not a checkout operator working on a Sunday.
“The children of retail workers still go to school Monday to Friday and if those retail workers are working on a Sunday instead of spending valuable time with their kids, then they absolutely deserve to be paid appropriate penalty rates,” said Peter.
Peter says Saturdays and Sundays are now some of the busiest trading days in the retail industry and as such require senior staff to be working, which means long-term retail workers will be left worse off.
“If the recommendations were to be implemented it would disproportionately affect people who work in retail as a career who are predominately working mothers.
“This is the Abbott Government’s attempt to use the Productivity Commission to target retail workers and cut their wages,” he said.