AHA & TAA welcome Productivity Commission recommendations
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) and Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA) have welcomed the Productivity Commission's recommendations on workplace reform as a "victory for commonsense"
In a joint press release, the key hospitality bodies state that implementing the recommendations will create a more flexible system to benefit both businesses and employment.
The draft report has recommended more flexible working arrangements for hospitality workers and proposes that Sunday work should attract the same penalty rates as Saturday. The report reflects that the hospitality industry now operates under totally different conditions from when penalty rates were first introduced 50 years ago.
Stephen Ferguson, CEO of AHA, said “The Productivity Commission has called for sensible discussion and we would call on organisations not to dismiss the draft recommendations out of hand – that helps no one, particularly workers,” said Mr Ferguson.
“What is impressive about the draft report is the consistent call for commonsense to be favoured over procedure, especially in areas such as dismissals, where an employer might be forced to pay compensation due to a procedural lapse despite an employee being found guilty of misconduct.”
Mr Ferguson said that the Commission’s recommendation on unilaterally-declared State public holidays was another victory for commonsense. He said that the AHA was concerned that there is no consistency of the number of State public holidays, and that business bears the cost when excessive numbers of State public holidays are sanctioned, often for relatively minor commemorations.
Chairman of Tourism Accommodation Australia, Martin Ferguson, said the hotel accommodation industry was being particularly hampered by outdated workplace conditions and that there was a need to "create the right environment for investors in the tourism and hotel sector, while growing employment opportunities.”
“The industry is a service industry and will always be reliant on high staffing levels, but the industrial relations environment hasn’t adapted to the demands of the new economy.
“Current awards, under which some permanent staff receive 175% of their normal rates for working Sundays and 250% 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.
“It will be easy for vested interests to dismiss these draft recommendations out of hand, rather than discussing them rationally and sensibly, but that would only be to the detriment of workers.”
In contrast, Bill Shorten has ruled out ALP support for a two-tiered wages structure and the Greens employment and industrial relations spokesperson Adam Bandt has said the Greens will make penalty rates a key election issue in the upcoming Federal Election.
AHD Alison Spice 6th August 2015
