Luke Mangan calls for overhaul of workplace agreements
Chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan is calling on the government to help the hospitality industry end its reliance on casual workers.
In a report in The Australian, Mangan said he was concerned up to 30 per cent of restaurants may never reopen after the coronavirus shut down ends and wants an overhaul to the Fair Work Act.
“The Fair Work Act is quite complicated for anyone to understand,” Mangan said. “It is ultimately up to the employer on how you want to employ people, but with this virus it’s a new world and a new beginning and the legislation needs to be simplified.”
Mangan is working with Restaurant & Catering Australia to have workplace agreements simplified so businesses can keep more people employed.
“All the people we’ve had to stand down, from waiters and waitresses to young chefs and apprentices, live week-to-week on casual wages and there are so many people who aren’t getting paid now because they don’t fit into some category of how long you’ve worked in one place or what visa you’re on,” he said.
Mangan also wants to see an end to the fringe benefits tax.
“If that tax could be dropped it’s going to give restaurateurs a real chance to get through this,” he said. “I’ve got this gut feeling that we may lose up to 30 per cent of restaurants who will simply not be able to reopen or recover from this. So, as an industry, we need all the help we can get.”
Sheridan Randall, 20th April 2020
