Page 858 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 22 March 2017
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(c) this will disproportionately affect women, who make up around 55 percent of employees in the hospitality and retail sectors nationally;
(d) this will disproportionately affect young people (15-29) who make up around 49 percent of employees in the hospitality and retail sectors nationally;
(e) will unfairly target those Australian workers that are already among the lowest earners in the country and rely on penalty rates; and
(f) this decision represents the thin end of the wedge for other groups of workers who receive penalty rates, including nurses, paramedics and fire fighters;
(3) further notes that the ACT Government:
(a) passed legislation last year to confirm Easter Sunday as a public holiday when falling on a weekend, so as to ensure workers receive the appropriate penalty rates; and
(b) made a submission to the Fair Work Commission’s Four Yearly Review of Modern Awards—Penalty Rates, urging them to leave penalty rates at their current levels; and
(4) calls on the Federal Government to intervene on behalf of the workers affected by the Fair Work Commission decision to ensure these workers do not suffer financial harm.
Today I have put forward a motion urging this Assembly to call on the federal government to intervene to protect penalty rates. The Fair Work Commission decision to slash Sunday rates is simply unfair. This cut disproportionally harms marginalised members of our community. At a time when income inequality is on the rise, the federal government wants to make up to 700,000 Australians financially worse off. This is an attack on the foundational principles of fairness and justice in the workplace: principles that Australians have fought for throughout our entire history.
Penalty rates have a long history in Australia. Since the very early years of European settlement, when in 1797 the first organised industrial action was recorded, there has been a strong tradition of workers fighting to protect and improve the material conditions of their community.
Penalty rates were introduced in 1947 after a long campaign by the labour movement.
This was to recognise the hardship placed on those who work on Saturdays and Sundays and get less time to spend with family and friends and to participate in their community. It is through the hard work and sacrifice of countless men and women in the trade union movement over many years that we enjoy the workplace protections that we have today in this country.
Today these hard won gains are yet again under attack by a Liberal government. Last month the Fair Work Commission recommended that the current Sunday penalty rates
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