Moral outrage.
Recently the Fair Work Commission of Australia handed down a decision to reduce the Sunday penalty rates received by workers covered by the hospitality, fast food, pharmacy and retail awards. What this means for many Australians who work Sundays in these industries is that they will take home about $100 less every week.
For those who do not know what penalty rates are, they are special rates of pay applied to certain working hours, such as public holidays, weekends and odd hours. So a person who works these shifts would receive slightly more on those days than they would a day of the normal working week to compensate for the hardship.
Now I don’t know about you, but I like my weekends. Although I would like to spend the time otherwise, I still choose to work them because frankly, living in Sydney is expensive. Approximately one third of my wage goes to rent. Perhaps another third goes to bills and sundry expenses, and most of the last third I try to save. Some of it gets spent on entertainment, like a nice dinner and a couple of drinks, but not enough to hurt the hip pocket.
Now I must state that as a casual in the hospitality industry, my penalty rates have been mercifully left largely untouched. But for many other Australians, the hurt is becoming very real. For those who only work weekends, like many students, young people and single parents today, it feels like a personal attack on the most vulnerable. Not only is the dream of owning a house increasingly remaining just a dream, but any chance at trying to build that dream by putting in the hours are being slowly eroded.
Small businesses have been crying poor for years about how they do it tough, citing high wages as a barrier to greater operability, but here is the thing: no one would work weekends or public holidays at all if there was no incentive to do so. Sure, they might be able to put on an extra staff member or two for those days with the savings, but the more likely outcome is that the business owner will pocket the difference.
Another point to consider for many of these industries as well is their busy periods. I can testify for the hospitality industry and say that the busiest time of the week is most certainly the weekend. Should we be paid less for what really amounts to more strenuous and intensive work? Why should we give up our weekends so that others can enjoy their day or night out and not get rewarded for it?
As many of us are forced to make ourselves available for weekend work at the risk of losing our jobs or being given less and less hours, it is only fair that we force our employers to pay us penalty rates as compensation. Well, don’t take this lying down Australia. Fight for your working rights as the previous generations did.
For those interesting in reading more about what has changed, click here.