Penalty rates brawl in WA
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett is positioning himself in the lead-up to next year’s state election with a pledge to crack down on penalty rates to boost hospitality, tourism and retail jobs.
It’s shaping up to be a key point of difference with Labor leader Mark McGowan.
Barnett says hundreds of small WA small businesses have to pay double, even triple-time wages and public holidays. Unlike business chains, they don’t have the heft to cut special deals with unions.
This is critical because while the Federal Government has industrial relations jurisdiction over most mid-to-large businesses, the State has coverage of small and micro-businesses that make up an estimated 11 to 16 per cent of the private sector workforce.
Mr Barnett has maintained that while workers should get more on Sundays and public holidays, it should be no more than the time-and-a-half wages generally applied on Saturdays — not double or triple time.
In other words, the current Sunday and public holiday penalty rates would drop to a flat Saturday rate of 1.5x pay.
In a statement released this week, the Australian Hotel Association WA's CEO Bradley Woods welcomed the changes as a way of addressing what his group sees as exorbitantly high rates.
"The burden of penalty rates means that on Sundays and public holidays many small businesss can't afford to open, meaning less productivity and less wages for local workers," Mr Woods said.
"For businesses that do open on public holidays, costs often have to be passed on to consumers."
Inevitably, it’s drawn a sharp response from the unions.
United Voice WA secretary Carolyn Smith said some of the State's lowest paid workers couldn’t afford the sudden pay cut.
“We are coming up to the Christmas period where thousands of people will miss out on family time and special celebrations because they have to work on weekends, public holidays and even Christmas Day to ensure they are able to put a roof over their heads and food on the table," Ms Smith told WA Today.
by Leon Gettler, December 1st 2016
