Big business makes a grab for wages, conditions and rights at work

Unions have always said the Productivity Commission inquiry into workplace relations was a Trojan horse to bring back WorkChoices and big business is providing the proof in their submissions.

Business Council of Australia (BCA)

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) submission aims to cut people's penalty rates and wages, make them work longer hours and weekends for less money, make it easier to sack people and take away their rights at work.

A panel comprised of a retired Judge, a Professor of Labour Law and an economist reviewed the Fair Work Act just three years ago and found our industrial relations system works – but yet again we have an extremist employer lobby group trying to dismantle the system and take away rights at work.

Key facts:

Working patterns have not substantially changed as the business lobby claim:

• In 1997, 69.7% of Australians worked from Monday to Friday; in 2012 this figure was 68.9%. The fact is that the majority of Australians work Monday to Friday.

Some of the most vulnerable employees rely on penalty rates in Awards to make ends meet:

• 1.86 million Australians are reliant on Award wages
• Almost 40% of works on Awards are employed in retail, accommodation and food services – the industries where employers are trying to cut penalty rates first
• Senior staff in retail and hospitality would still receive less than Australia's average full time weekly earnings even if they worked a full time week at double time for every hour worked

WorkChoices gave the employers all sorts of 'flexibility' and in the case of AWAs – individual contracts - most removed basic award conditions:

• 65% of individual agreements removed penalty rates
• 70% of individual agreements removed shift loading
• 68% of individual agreements removed annual leave loading
• 50% of individual agreements removed public holiday pay

Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver

"The BCA wants to cut people's penalty rates and wages, make them work longer hours and weekends for less money, make it easier to sack people and take away their rights at work.

"Flexibility is just the word employers' use for cutting wages and conditions and workers know this.

"Cutting penalty rates or the minimum wage has nothing to do with job creation or productivity - it is about cutting people's pay packets.

"Unions have always said the Productivity Commission inquiry was a Trojan horse to bring back WorkChoices and here is the proof - an extremist employer lobby group trying to dismantle Australia's entire workplace system to take away people rights and slash their wages.

"There are millions of Australians who cannot afford the sudden pay cut that will come with having their penalty rates and wages cut."

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI)

The ACCI submission to the Productivity Commission lays bare their longstanding determination to slash the pay and working conditions of millions of Australian workers.

ACCI says that award-only covered workers – of which there are 1.86 million in Australia – should no longer receive penalty rates, shift loadings or allowances.

Their submission also makes clear that they want to make it easier to sack workers of small businesses by taking away protections from unfair dismissal.

ACCI continues to make unfounded assertions suggesting that cutting pay and making it easier to sack people will result in more jobs – this is just a nonsense. ACCI has not presented any evidence to justify this.

The Facts:

Hospitality and retail businesses are actually spending less on wages than they have in the past:

• ABS figures show that the share of business income going towards wages in several key sectors has fallen in recent years.
• In food and accommodation - the total wages share was 78 per cent in 2013-14, down from a peak of 87 per cent in 1997-98.
• In retail - the total wages share has fallen from a peak of 79 per cent in 1997-98 to just 73 per cent in 2013-14

Working patterns have not substantially changed as claimed by the business lobby:

In 1997, 69.7% of us had jobs from Monday to Friday; in 2012 this figure was 68.9%. The fact is that the majority of Australians work Monday to Friday.

Some of the most vulnerable employees rely on penalty rates in Awards to make ends meet. Close to 40% of the Award dependent workforce is employed in two industries – Accommodation and Food Services and Retail Trade. These are the industries where the loudest critics of penalty rates reside.

Even mid-senior levels of workers on those awards - such as Retail staff with some management responsibility, Cooks, Bar Staff, Front of House Staff and Waiters in Fine Dining Restaurants – receive less than Full Time Average Weekly Total Earnings even if they worked a full time week at double time for every hour worked[1].

Quotes attributable to ACTU President Ged Kearney

"The business lobby's answer to everything is to cut workers' pay and make it easier to sack them.

"There are millions of Australians who cannot afford the sudden pay cut that will come with having their penalty rates cut.

"Penalty rates are part of take home wages that hard working Australians rely on to pay their rent or mortgage and put food on the table.

"If you cut people's wages, they have less money to spend in shops, pharmacies and cafes – the very businesses that are driving this attack.

"Millions of Australians sacrifice their weekends, nights and public holidays away from family and friends to work and they should be paid for that.

"Cutting penalty rates or the minimum wage has nothing to do with job creation or productivity - it is about cutting people's pay packets."

Award Reliant Employees by State:

Award Reliant Employees by State:

[1] The level 4 rate of pay in the General Retail, Restaurants and Hospitality Awards is $746.20.   Full Time Adult Average Weekly Total Earnings as at November 14 was $1,539.40 (ABS 6302).