Progress is being made on the issue of penalty rates with a big win coming out of the Productivity Commission’s report that recommends Sunday penalty rates be removed for hospitality workers, aligning them with Saturday rates. The Commission believes lower regulated Sunday rates would increase opening hours and encourage higher staffing ratios and job opportunities – the AHA agrees.
The AHA is pursuing a sensible policy debate on penalty rates and for the Australian union movement to understand that there is a pool of workers who for whatever reason are unemployed or underemployed and want work on the weekends. Tourism and hospitality is best positioned to absorb these workers and provide them with jobs, but it is currently not affordable.
The Australian economy is in transition. Manufacturing in the future will not provide for Australia what it has in the past; likewise the huge economic boost provided by mining and petroleum has gone. Australia in the future will become more and more of a services sector and at the moment we are underservicing people on weekends because of high weekend premium rates.
