Stephen Cartwright, the CEO of the state’s peak business organisation, NSW Business Chamber, says the outcome of today’s appeal hearing in the Federal Court regarding penalty rates in the hospitality sector has far reaching implications.
As part of the two yearly review of modern awards, Australian Business Industrial and the Restaurant & Catering Association of Victoria lodged an application to vary the Restaurant Industry Award 2010 in respect of penalty rates payable for work performed on Sundays.
This application was initially rejected by the Fair Work Commission, but on appeal in May this year, the Full Bench of the Commission partially overturned that earlier decision.
In doing so, the majority of the Full Bench ruled that the Restaurant Award should be varied to reduce Sunday penalties from a 75% loading to a 50% loading, for three grades of casual workers.
The Union with coverage of this sector, United Voice, has now appealed that decision and the Federal Court will begin hearing that appeal today.
“When the Sunday penalty rates were reduced in May this year, the NSW Business Chamber was inundated with restaurant and café owners across the State saying they would now be looking to employ extra staff on Sundays and extending shifts, because there had finally been some relief on penalty rates,” Mr Cartwright said.
“There was finally some good news for employers looking to provide employment to their fellow Australians.
“More than 4000 members of the NSW Business Camber are from the retail and hospitality sectors, and they are key employers in many smaller communities. This was particularly the case in regional NSW where some towns almost closed down on Sunday’s because of the high costs of simply opening the doors of cafes and restaurants.
“With youth unemployment continuing to rise, I would have thought that the union movement would have welcomed any opportunity that enabled some extra shifts for their members. Instead, we get the normal “frothing at the mouth” about protecting hard won rights.
“I’ll say it once again to the union movement – if a café is closed because it can’t afford to open its doors, not only do your members not get a penalty rate loading, they don’t get any wages at all.. How is that looking after their best interests?”
