Cuts to Sunday penalty rates now 'inevitable' as polls suggest pain for Federal Government
Business groups say a cut to Sunday penalty rates is now inevitable despite a potential backlash at the next federal election.
Some voters in key Coalition seats say it would be enough to sway their vote if the Turnbull Government allowed the changes to go ahead.
For 23-year-old Peter Ferman, Sunday shifts are a must.
“[To] put food on the table, pay rent and give me a chance to have a life outside of work and study,” he said.
He is one of thousands of Australian workers who would lose out if changes to penalty rates go ahead.
The Productivity Commission has recommended reducing Sunday rates for workers in the retail, hospitality and entertainment industries.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/30449356/23-medicare-services-on-chopping-block/| 23 Medicare services on chopping block]
Their pay would go from double time to time and a half, the same rate as Saturdays.
Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have already struck similar agreements for their staff.
“Penalty rates will drop without a doubt,” Peter Strong from the Small Business Council said.
Business groups say around 50,000 small businesses would consider opening on Sundays as a result.
“We’re saying how about you apply some common sense to Sundays,” Mr Strong said.
But Federal Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said the move would be unfair to workers.
“Most Australians value their weekends and they understand when people are working on a Sunday they should be properly compensated for that,” she said.
The Federal Government says what happens now rests with the independent Fair Work Commission, which is expected to make a decision by the middle of next year.
But it is still politically dangerous and the early signs are the voters don’t like it.
A new Reachtel poll commissioned by the left-leaning Australia Institute shows between 65 and 79 per cent of voters in three key Coalition seats think penalty rates should stay the same or go up.
Some in Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's Brisbane electorate of Dickson admit it would even change their votes.
