Hospitality industry bodies call for COVID sick leave payment to be reinstated
As COVID cases surge, Australia’s hospitality industry and retail peak bodies have joined forces to call on the government to reintroduce a sick-leave safety net.
With the $750-a-week pandemic leave disaster payment now a thing of the past, businesses are once again at risk.
The payment, which was introduced by the Morrison government in August 2020, cost the taxpayer $1.9 billion, but was an enormous benefit to struggling businesses as it covered sick leave.
The Albanese following through with the previous government’s decision to remove the payment at the end of the last financial year, as it tried to rein in $1 trillion in debt.
What wasn’t foreseen was the extreme rise in case numbers, with the country now recording 43,000 cases, with those testing positive legally bound to isolate.
The calls for the payment to be reinstated by industry bodies and the union may fall on deaf ears however with Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt saying, “The requirements for when people need to isolate and for how long have been significantly reduced since the payment was introduced.
“We inherited a budget with a trillion dollars of debt, so keeping to the plan of letting these payments expire 2.5 years into the pandemic is the responsible thing to do.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics there were 780,500 people working fewer hours due to illness and businesses are concerned that sick days will surge along with COVID case numbers as winter progresses.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil has labelled the scrapping of the isolation safety net as “short-term thinking”.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union’s Steve Murphy said, “Whatever we need to do to get the attention of the government, we will do,”
Australian Retailers’ Association boss Paul Zahra also backed the reinstatement of a safety net saying “absences and labour shortages continue to cripple the economy”.
“While a lot of progress has been made in terms of how we live with COVID, we need to strike the right balance where vulnerable people forced out of work continue to be supported,” Zahra said.
“There could be an increased spread of COVID-19 among hospitality staff which would strain the labour force in our industry,” Restaurant and Catering Australia head Belinda Clarke said.
The dissenting voice came from Andrew McKellar, chief executive Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who backed the pull away citing “unprecedented deficit and debt levels”.
This is not in tune with industry associations with high numbers of casuals who they fear could get sick and spread the infection.
Hospitality business owners also expressed their concern with Darlington’s Eatz Café barista Julian O’Neill still waiting on a disaster relief payment from June.
“A lot of us live week-to-week,” he said of casual hospitality workers. “So if you are sick, and you’re not working full time, so you don’t get sick leave, you miss out on money for groceries, rent, bills, just life.”
Inflation is also biting.
Small Time Group pizzeria cook Fynn Barker said, “Inflation and electricity prices are high, my bills have nearly doubled this month, and rent’s gone up as well,” he said. “Missing a week of work would put me in a pretty tough spot.”
Anyone whose isolation period started after 30 June is now not eligible for the payment.
Irit Jackson, 11th July 2022
