Business wages advertising war on holidays
THE hospitality industry is stepping up its fight against two half-day public holidays amid renewed claims two-thirds of businesses close on Christmas and New Year’s eves because of increased penalty rates.
In an advertising blitz launched yesterday, the Restaurant and Catering Association questions the South Australian government’s commitment to its pledge to create a “vibrant Adelaide” by highlighting the adverse effect on businesses of its union-backed deregulation deal.
Labor controversially introduced the two five-hour public holidays last year in a deal struck with Business SA and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association.
The association claims there has been a 63 per cent rise in restaurant and cafe closures on Christmas and New Year’s eves.
The current hourly rate for casual waitstaff on Christmas and New Year’s eves is listed in the ads as being $42.94 in Adelaide. This compares with $21.86 in Melbourne, $22.04 in Sydney and $12.30 in London.
The association has also launched a social media campaign, calling on Facebook users to support its bid.
The association also pointed to a recent survey by Tourism Accommodation Australia that found 15 out of 25 South Australian hotels, and more than two-thirds across the country, would close or reduce services during the Easter period because of public holiday penalty rates that are up to 275 per cent of normal wage rates.
Premier Jay Weatherill, who has been in China as part of a federal trade mission, has previously dismissed as exaggerations the impact of the deregulation deal.
Tourism Minister Leon Bignell maintained the government’s stance in light of the latest hospitality industry campaign, dismissing it as “just something that the employer groups do from time to time”.
“These people just want to attack Adelaide and call it a ghost town. We see this line coming up and up again, all for their own cause, which is to devalue what employees get,” he said.
Mr Bignell denied the state’s unemployment rate of 7.1 per cent, the highest in 12 years and the worst in the country, was related to high penalty rates.
“They (employers) come out and try these attacks all the time and talk down Adelaide ... the employer groups want to attack workers all the time.”
Australian Hotels Association chief executive Ian Horne said business remained strongly opposed to the part-day public holidays in South Australia.
“If we want to pull the scab off that sore it’s certainly still being felt by everyone amid great levels of resentment,” he said.
Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association secretary Peter Malinauskas said employers had “always managed to get by” with penalty rates in the past.
“I don’t think the answer to solving concerns around unemployment is slashing and burning penalty rates ... Prosperity in this country isn’t going to be achieved in a race to the bottom,’’ Mr Malinauskas said.
Source: The Australian - 14th April 2014
