Union launches campaign to restore penalty rates for Illawarra hospitality workers

Hospitality worker union United Voice has launched a campaign against the Coalition's cuts to penalty rates, saying more than 13,000 Illawarra workers will lose out if the current government is re-elected.

The union’s national secretary, Jo Schofield, said in the marginal seat of Gilmore alone 6,175 workers have had their penalty rates cut. Speaking to The Illawarra Mercury, Schofield said the region’s workers “deserve better”.

"The Liberal National Government has already cut penalty rates for hundreds of thousands of retail and hospitality workers,” she said.

"Now, they are looking at who is next. Everyone who gets paid extra for working evenings, nights, weekends or public holidays stands to lose."

Schofield called on voters to get behind Fiona Phillips in Gilmore, Stephen Jones in Whitlam and Sharon Bird in Cunningham as the best way to ensure penalty rates are restored and protected.

Sheridan Randall, 1^st April 2019