Recently Senator Xenophon introduced a bill to parliament that would scrap penalty rates for thousands of workers. Despite hundreds of emails sent to the Senator asking him to Bin his Bill, he hasn't listened and more employers are joining him. Now it's time to tell the Senate direct what individual workers think of the proposed changes.
We need your help now to tell the Australian Senate how important the weekend is for you. So we've created an online tool to make writing an individual submission easy:
>>> http://saveourweekend.org.au/ratesform.php
Will you write a submission to the Senate Committee inquiry into Senator Xenophon's bill?
Senator Xenophon plans to cut penalty rates for workers in small businesses in the retail, restaurant and catering sectors. A retail worker doing a 6 hour shift on Sunday could be $105 worse off.
Senator Xenophon thinks that weekends are out-dated. His bill would treat Saturday and Sunday like any other day of the week.
Workers in the industries that Senator Xenophon has targeted are low paid and often rely on penalty rates to make ends meet.
Businesses should pay a little more for workers who give up their weekend. That's only fair.
Tell the Australian Senate what you think of Senator Xenophon's bill to scrap penalty rates by writing a submission. Submissions are due 8 October 2012.
The Save Our Weekend website also has more information on Senator Xenophon's bill
If you don't work in hospitality or retail you can still write a submission - explain why this bill matters to you, to someone you know, or to the rights of working Australians.
Finally, we are worried many Australians do not know their penalties rates are at risk. Please tell your friends and family, particularly those who work in retail and hospitality, all about it.