Pay cuts for Sunday and public holiday wages came into effect over the weekend.
In February the Fair Work Commission announced it would cut Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for full-time, part-time and casual workers.
The changes came into effect last weekend, and were felt across the retail, pharmacy, fast food and hospitality industries. Changes to public holiday rates are effective immediately, while changes to Sunday rates will be introduced gradually.
The cuts are predicted to effect up to 700,000 Australian citizens and thousands of businesses.
Workers will watch their Sunday rates drop, pay cheque to pay cheque, losing up to 5 per cent during the first phase, and up to 50 per cent down the track.
Iain Ross, president of the FWA, told the Guardian the measures would improve employment by providing relief for small business owners who struggle with the current penalty rates, and that are forced to close on Sundays and public holidays. He believes the decision will mean businesses can stay open longer and employ more people on Sundays.
Russel Zimmerman, executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, said in a press conference earlier this year that the association was for the decision, and in some areas the reductions did not go far enough.
“Retailers won’t be able to reap the benefits from the penalty rate cuts for a number of years,” said Zimmerman. “Retail is the largest private employer, and we want to ensure employees working within retail are supported, and to do that we must first address the issues their employers are facing in the current retail environment.”
Hung Le is the co-owner of suburban cafe Weston Eatery, and reflects the feelings of many hospitality business owners.“Sunday is probably the hardest [day] to maintain quality of service," he says. "We need quality staff, and it gets quite expensive because we trade all day.“
David Glover, proprietor of Glover Chemists in Sydney, is another business owner who sees the issue from the other side, and doubts the changes will result in more people being employed by small business owners. He says the focus needs to be on current staff.
“The thinking is flawed. [It’s about] the welfare of the staff who work all the time and give away their weekends. If they’re prepared to go to work [on weekends], then they have to be rewarded for it,” Glover told Broadsheet Media.
One such worker is Alexia Milios, a graphic design student working two retail jobs. “I have been studying and working as a casual sales assistant in retail for over four years," she says. "Weekend penalty rates have been extremely significant to me. The cuts [will] mean that I have to take on more hours and sacrifice time I would spend focusing on my studies.”
It is estimated workers in the lowest pay grades will lose $6000 a year.Those working for larger companies with enterprise agreements will not experience any changes.
“In our current economic system, employees that work under the restaurant awards are amongst the lowest paid, with the least leverage when negotiating with employers,” says Amit Tewari, founder and director of Soul Burger, a Sydney business pledging to protect penalty rates. “Without basic income guarantees, we need to be firm with award rates.”
To date, 73 businesses across the country are listed on the Australian Union-run website businesses4penaltyrates, which calls for protection of full penalty rates.
“It’s our way of showing our people that we’re not just another workplace. To be the best company we can be. Having better pay rates is one way of having a better working environment,” Tewari says.
Globally, Australian cities are among the most expensive to live in. The Economist cost of living 2017 report listed Brisbane and Adelaide as two of the biggest living-cost climbers. And news.com reported Sydney is the 14th most expensive city to live in, with Melbourne a close 15th.
Australian cost of living is also reported to have overtaken wage growth rates (cost of living is reported by the Sydney Morning Herald to stand at 2.1 per cent, with wage growth at 1.9 per cent). According to the Economist, annual wage growth in Australia is at an all-time low.
