Penalty rates an anachronism
Tourism Accommodation Australia’s new chairman, Martin Ferguson, understands job creation and the importance of fair working conditions as well, if not better, than most business leaders in Australia. Mr Ferguson was ACTU president during the Hawke and Keating governments and held the Resources and Energy and Tourism portfolios in the Rudd and Gillard governments. A supporter of economic reform, he fell foul of Luddites in the Labor Party for backing the Baird government’s policy of electricity privatisation at the NSW state election.
In his new role, representing major hotel groups and more than 1000 accommodation providers, Mr Ferguson will campaign to reduce penalty rates in the tourism sector and to improve conditions for permanent staff. As he said yesterday, tourism businesses need to make money if they are to provide jobs.
Current awards, under which some permanent staff receive 175 per cent of their normal rates for working Sundays and 250 per cent for working on public holidays, with even higher penalties for some casual workers, are unrealistic and a dampener on employment. Tourism and other service sectors need an industrial system suited to the 21st century, not to society as it was 50 years ago, when weekends were sacrosanct and Sunday was a day of rest, when most shops and restaurants were shut. The economy no longer operates that way, especially in tourism, where workers expect to be rostered to provide services seven days a week and in some businesses, 24 hours a day.
Mr Ferguson will seek a deal with unions that would reduce penalties in return for better overall conditions. Penalties should be set at a level that is sufficient to induce people to take up available shifts on weekends and public holidays and no more. The unions’ ability to give ground in negotiations in return for improvements in other conditions and better job security for members will be a test of their maturity. A fresh approach is long overdue because, as Mr Ferguson says, the last thing the economy needs is “more and more days on which people are not prepared to trade”.
Source: The Australian, June 16th 2015
