Illawarra business groups have backed moves to strip penalty rates from hospitality workers, claiming employment opportunities and businesses in the region are suffering under current laws.
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“We have 3500 businesses in the Illawarra in sectors most affected by penalty rates,” Illawarra Business Chamber CEO Debra Murphy said on Monday.
“Some business have chosen not to trade on Sundays and on public holidays because they can’t afford to pay, which means tourists can’t shop and people get their shifts cut,” Ms Murphy said.
Australian Hotel Association Illawarra sub-branch delegate Mick Dennis said working long nights, weekends and holidays was standard in the hospitality industry and shouldn’t attract extra pay.
“People know this coming into the hospitality industry, I’ve worked in it for 30 years and never had a weekend off,” he said.
“The majority of workers are university students who don’t want to work normal nine-to-five hours.”
However, retail worker and University of Wollongong student Katherine Pryor rejected suggestions uni students wanted to work outside regular business hours.
“I’ve never wanted to work weekends and nights, but getting a job in retail where you’re expected to work those kind of hours is much better than no job at all,” she said.
Ms Pryor said penalty rates were a fair compensation and an incentive for sacrificing public holidays and Sundays.
“On average, every worker either part of full-time works about three public holidays per year and the only reason to work them is for the extra cash. They are usually really busy and less people are rostered due to the cost of wages so you work your butt off to be away from friends and family.”
Hoang Nguyen splits his time across two jobs in the retail and hospitality sector and is annoyed by suggestions that students are happy to work flexible hours without extra payment.
“We fit our university timetable around our work, not the other way around. We have lives and commitments too,” he said.
When asked if it was fair to deny young workers the penalty rates previous generations of workers had enjoyed, Ms Murphy said they would also benefit from the changes.
“They share in the benefits of shops and businesses being open longer, more job opportunities will open up and we’re a region with 17 per cent youth unemployment,” she said.
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney rejected claims by business groups that existing penalty rates crippled profitability.
‘‘The business community justifies its push to get rid of penalty rates by saying they are making it unaffordable to hire workers. The truth is that the share of business income going to wages in several key sectors has been falling in recent years,’’ she said.
George Antoniou said his Wollongong bar and cafe The Living Room remained largely unaffected by penalty rates and was unfazed by the prospect of changes.
‘‘Our main priority is customers and we stay open on Sundays with penalty rates because we’re busy with customers,’’ he said.
‘‘If the law changes we’ll abide by the law, like we do now.’’
The Fair Work Commission will work through business and union group submissions, with a decision on minimum wage standards to be made this year.
The commission struck down attempts by retail and hospitality employers to halve Sunday rates in 2013.
At the time, it acknowledged there was some evidence supporting employers claims that reduced penalty rates increased employment but said ‘‘it was far from compelling’’.