THE pay packets of regional workers will take a hit and communities will suffer if new workplace changes recommended by the Productivity Commission and backed by the Abbott Government, go ahead, warns the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
Speaking at the Productivity Commission’s first public hearing in Bendigo, Victoria on Friday, unions warned that retail and hospitality workers in Victorian regional and rural communities alone are set to lose up to $282.6 million per year if penalty rates (i.e. overtime and unsocial hours payments) are cut, according to McKell Institute figures.
Regional and rural Victoria Local economies overall would lose up to $145.7 million in disposable income. Cutting penalty rates would be a sudden pay cut for millions of Australian workers that will hurt local economies as families will have less money to spend in shops and businesses in communities around the country, said the ACTU.
The Productivity Commission has called for an unfair two-tiered workplace system with Sunday penalty rates to be cut for thousands of Australians who work in restaurants, cafes and shops. There is no evidence to show that cutting penalty rates increases employment or productivity – it is simply a raid on people’s wages that will create an underclass of working poor.
Local Bendigo workers representing hospitality, retail and health sectors will come before the hearing today to talk about the personal impact of having their penalty rates cut. ACTU Assistant Secretary Scott Connolly said: ‘All Australian workers, especially those in regional areas deserve more from the Abbott Government.
‘Cutting penalty rates is a pay cut that workers don’t deserve and can’t afford. Cutting penalty rates has nothing to do with job creation or productivity – it is about cutting people’s pay packets and putting the money back into business’ profits. Unions will fight any move to cut penalty rates. If the Abbott Government wants to make rights at work an election issue – bring it on.’
Joanne Schofield, National Secretary of United Voice, said: ‘Cutting penalty rates is bad for workers and bad for local economies. The financial aspect of penalty rates is critical, but at the root of this is something equally important: values, community, and fairness. Millions of workers in other industries are also entitled to receive penalty rates. They are watching the hospitality and retail industries with great interest because they know if these employers succeed, their own employers are waiting in the wings, ready to pick up the wage-cutting baton.’
Gerard Dwyer, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) National Secretary, said: ‘The recent narrow debate from employers on penalty rates has been about the cost to business.
‘It completely misses the untold story of the loss to local workers, local communities and local economies across regional Australia if penalty rates are cut. Whichever way you look at it the families, communities and local economies of regional and rural Australia will lose if retail penalty rates are cut.’
Tim Kennedy, National Union of Workers (NUW) National Secretary, said: ‘The McKell Institute makes clear that any move to reduce the wages of often already insecure workers will increase income inequality in Australia and we must as a movement fight against that. The Productivity Commission is supposed to be about higher living standards for all, but reducing penalty rates and keeping workers in insecure, low-paying jobs actively undermines this objective and will see millions of workers struggle.’
Public transport workers who shut down the Melbourne rail and tram system on Friday were been encouraged to create mayhem for the AFL during this month’s finals series. John Setka, CFMEU secretary, encouraged striking workers to use finals fever to their advantage in their bitter industrial fight with Metro Trains and Yarra Trams. It’s finals time soon, what a wonderful time to have some industrial action,’ Setka told a rally of several hundred at Melbourne Trades Hall on Friday.
Meanwhile, 70 more trains were cancelled early Saturday morning due to further strike action against Metro. A four-hour stoppage was planned between 2am and 6am on Saturday, the third consecutive day in which industrial stoppages was due to force trains off the rails. Ahead of the latest strike, Metro cancelled 66 Saturday morning services and four late night services after 1am Sunday.
The union movement has rallied around the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, which has been attacked by the provincial Labour government for shutting down Melbourne’s train and tram networks. About 500 union supporters marched along Swanston Street towards Flinders Street Station from 11.30am on Friday, blocking traffic. Rail union state secretary Luba Grigorovitch accused Metro of treating its staff like ‘fools’, adding: ‘Metro thought that if they offered us a little more money we would roll over.’
She called the Victoria government’s decision to support Metro’s failed attempt to shut down the strike at the Fair Work Commission ‘tragic’.
Trains ground to a halt on Friday from 10am as Metro staff including signallers and controllers walked off the job, but commuters endured delays and disruptions from as early as 8.30am. CFMEU delegates on Friday called on Newcastle Labour Councillors to reverse their decision to support divestment from the coal mining industry.
CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District President Peter Jordan said members unanimously passed a resolution (see below) expressing their disappointment at the Labour Councillors’ decision.
Said Jordan: ‘Labour should be the party that puts working people first, but this decision is gesture-politics that puts working people last.’
‘Our members feel abandoned by Labour’s decision to play politics with their jobs. Here in the Hunter region coal mining has been a critical industry which has provided good, permanent jobs for local people for many generations. Our region is suffering an employment crisis. The rate of unemployment has doubled in the past four years alone. Now more than ever we need the new jobs in our region that mines like Drayton South will generate. This decision is only going to cause disunity and we’re urging all Labour representatives on the Newcastle City Council to reverse it immediately.’
RESOLUTION
‘RESOLVED that this meeting of Delegates of the Northern Mining and NSW Energy District of the CFMEU held on Friday 4 September 2015, having heard the report of President Peter Jordan, expresses its deep concern, frustration and disappointment at the decision of Labour Councillors on Newcastle City Council to support divestment from the coal mining industry.
‘Since the 1850’s, the coal mining industry in the Hunter Valley has been the driving force for jobs and development in the region. Regardless of the attempts of anti-coal activists, the coal mining industry will remain an integral part of the economic and social fabric of the region for decades to come.
‘As Members of a progressive union that is affiliated to the Australian Labour Party we are particularly offended by the fact that the decision recently taken by Newcastle Labour Councillors was made without consultation with our union and without any apparent regard for our members’ interests and wellbeing.
‘One matter that should always differentiate the Australian Labour Party from the Greens political party is a proper regard and respect for the working class Australians who form the core of the Labour Party’s support base. However, the recent decision of the Newcastle City Council is an example of self-indulgent, gesture-politics that puts working class people last.
‘WE CALL ON Newcastle Labour Councillors to reverse this decision and to realise that they should not attempt to out-bid the Greens on who can destroy more blue-collar jobs. At a time when the labour movement is facing a right-wing government hell-bent on destroying its ability to defend workers’ rights, we do not need the disunity caused by this ill-considered proposal.’
