Government looks to compromise on penalty rates
With the government under growing pressure over the Fair Work Commission’s decision to change Sunday penalty rates for retail and the hospitality workers, the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has flagged a compromise.
Mr Turnbull has indicated he is in favour of phasing in the cuts over a long enough period to ensure any cut to take home pay would be masked by annual wage increases.
The reduction would be phased in over two to five years as recommended by the commission.
He said this would probably recommend that when the government makes its submission to the Commission on how to implement the cuts.
“The employee’s overall pay packet increases and offsets the phased-in reduction in penalty rates. We’re very supportive of the commission managing this transition in a way that ensures that take-home pay is as far as possible maintained, which is the object of the modern awards,” Mr Turnbull told reporters.
“The Fair Work Commission is very conscious of the need to protect low-paid workers. We encourage them to do that job and they’ve asked for some submissions on some technical issues. We’ll provide them with those.
“But the important thing is they have both the intent and the tools to ensure that the changes are phased in so that workers are not – as far as possible – not worse off in terms of this transition.”
Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz, a former employment minister in the Abbott government, has proposed grandfathering the changes to Sunday penalty rates so that they don’t apply to existing workers.
“Those who are on relatively low incomes … who are in these particular sectors have household budgets, they live week-to-week, and they’ve made plans on the basis of what their income stream is now,” Mr Abetz told ABC Radio.
However, the Commission had already rejected grandfathering although it flagged phasing in the cuts over time.
Mr Turnbull told reporters the grandfathering suggestion was “impractical”.
The government is looking for a compromise at a time when a ReachTEL poll, commissioned by the ACTU, shows the Coalition could lose at least three seats just on the basis of voter resentment over penalty rates.
by Leon Gettler, March 3rd 2017
