More penalty rate cuts ahead
The push to cut penalty rates is gathering momentum with licensed clubs joining restaurants, cafes and hairdressers to make the case for the Fair Work Commission to cut Sunday penalty rates.
Unions will strongly resist the change.
And that means the hearings are likely to drag into next year so the potential cuts are likely to come in during the next Federal election.
Clubs Australia, representing more than 6500 licensed clubs across Australia and New Zealand, has submitted that clubs should be covered by the hospitality award, where minimum Sunday rates have been cut from 175 per cent to 150 per cent.
While club and RSL groups in the ACT and Queensland have opposed penalty rate cuts, Clubs Australia executive director Chris Mossman said most clubs were now paying staff higher than the award.
He said the submission would "ensure that smaller clubs – half of which are showing signs of financial stress – remain viable".
"CAI's position has always been that the best people to decide what workplace arrangements work best for individual clubs and their employees are clubs themselves," Mr Mossman told the Australian Financial Review.
But the main union, United Voice, says that Clubs Australia will have a fight on its hands.
United Voice has accused Clubs Australia of trying to “piggy back” off the penalty rate cuts.
Jo-anne Schofield, United Voice national secretary, said the union would use whatever resources it could muster to fight for weekend penalty rates.
“It is out of line that a financially successful sector, with a total revenue of $12 billion nationwide, can go on the attack against its workers and their weekend pay rates,” Ms Schofield said.
Mr Mossman however accused United Voice of “embarking on a series of unlawful protests in Queensland Clubs designed to bully and intimidate clubs into signing a pledge not to cut penalty rates".
"They have also sought to bully CAI through a misleading advertising campaign. We reject these tactics and will continue to put the interests of clubs first," Mr Mossman told the Australian Financial Review.
by Leon Gettler, August 1st 2017
