Monday 20 March 2017

Why Penalty rates are different between unionised and non-unionised industries

Malcolm Turnbull showed a lot of ignorance yesterday ( as did the Royal Commission into Unions) on penalty rates.

They do not understand the word negotiation.

In most unionised industries the penalty rates have been negotiated down. If negotiations have been made then you have to see what was negotiated. Neither Turnbull's staff nor the Royal Commission had the nous or the work ethic to discover what was involved. It involves a hell of a lot of work to discover this.

I have neither the time nor the interest to do so but let us simply examine what employees for Coles or Woolworths might have that employees in say a restaurant might not have.

  • Flexibility on rosters
  • Long service leave
  • ability to take annual leave when you wish to
  • other forms of leave
  • protocols involving dismissal
That is merely off the top of my head. Just remember as well a Union might negotiate a EBA BUT it is the employees who have to sign off on it.

If a person mentions that say the SDA have  not the same penalty rates for their member as employees on the award there is a very good reason for that. You cannot compare both as it is comparing apples with oranges.

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