An Illawarra union boss fears the penalties of more workers – including nurses and emergency service personnel – will be next on the chopping block, as the region’s students come to terms with flagged cuts to their take-home pay.
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The Fair Work Commission on Thursday ruled that penalty rates for workers in the retail, fast food, hospitality and pharmacy industries would be slashed from July.
The hardest hit would be retail and pharmacy employees, whose Sunday penalty rates drop from 200 per cent of their standard hourly rate, or “double time”, to 150 per cent (“time-and-a-half”).
University of Wollongong students, many of whom rely on penalties to get by, have been left reeling by the news.
“We’re all on pretty tight budgets for food and all that, so any little bit of money can get you that something extra, like that extra loaf of bread or that extra carton of milk that you may need,” UOW student Bradley O’Neill, 18, said.
“It may not seem like much but it’s quite a large sum of money that you’d be missing out on over a longer period of time.”
Mr O’Neill, who moved to Wollongong from Ulladulla for uni, was one of hundreds of students who took part in UOW’s annual Goodwill Hunting event on Friday.
The initiative helps students set up their units and homes with items donated by uni staff and the community.
With free homewares on offer, Thursday’s penalty rate cut announcement was forgotten – for a moment.
Meanwhile, the students’ angst came as South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris warned of further cuts in other sectors.
Mr Rorris said regions like the Illawarra tended “to be disproportionately affected” by such workplace changes, given large role played by the services sector, and he feared more heartache was to come.
“This is the warning here to everybody who isn't directly affected by this decision, who depend on penalty rates - the nurses, the firefighters, the police officers, the steelworkers,” he said.
“They will start with the most vulnerable workers and the big corporations will use this as a beachhead to move on everyone else's penalty rates as well, I have no doubt.”
Business groups have welcomed the changes, saying affordable penalty rates would help create more jobs.
STUDENTS’ REACTION
- DONALYN THOMSEN, 18
“On Sunday’s, it’s either like double pay or pay-and-a-half, so you’re getting pretty much an extra day without having to work during the week.
“With school work, if you work on weekends you can kind of balance things more without having to worry about having to get another job.”
- BRADLEY O’NEILL, 18
“If we’re giving up our weekends to work it is kinda good to get that extra, I suppose thank you, for working.
“I’ve worked longer shifts during the weekends as well, so you’re generally putting a lot more time and effort in ... it’s definitely a bit more of a demanding shift.”
- GEORGIA ROSSITER, 19
“We still have the same bills as everyone else, but we just don’t have the time to work as much because we’ve got our studies.”
- AMELIA JOHNSTON, 18
“It just allows us to earn that little bit more money.”
CUTS AT A GLANCE
Hospitality (Sunday)
- Full-time (FT) and part-time (PT): 175% to 150%
Retail (Sunday)
- FT and PT: 200% to 150%
- Casual: 200% to 175%
Fast Food (Sunday)
- FT and PT: 150% to 125%
- Casual: 175% to 150%
Pharmacy (Sunday 7am-9pm)
- FT and PT: 200% to 150%
- Casual: 200% to 175%
Holidays (retail, hospitality)
- FT and PT: 250% to 225%
*Source: Fair Work Commission. The cuts will be phased in from July 1.
The changes do not extend to restaurants and cafes.