Some of Australia’s biggest companies – including supermarkets Coles and Woolworths – have supported a legal bid in the Fair Work Commission to change the rules for retail work.
The industry peak body, the Australian Retail Association (ARA), has made a legal application toentitlements, including reducing the minimum gap between shifts from 12 to 10 hours.
It has also suggested a new set of conditions for higher-paid managers, including scrapping their overtime.
Unions estimate the move could impact.
Proposal
Around one in five Australian workers are covered by an award. This is a pay agreement that relates to a specific industry.
Last year, the ARA submitted an application to change the retail award, which sets out worker pay, conditions, and entitlements in retail work.
The award covers most workers in fashion, food, and department stores.
The ARA proposed 17 amendments to the current award, which it said is “unnecessarily complex”.
Amendments
Some of the ARA’s proposals include:
Cutting the minimum gap between shifts from 12 to 10 hours
Allowing an employee to be rostered on two 11-hour shifts a week (up from one).
It also included a suite of changes for higher-level staff who, in exchange for getting paid 25% above the award’s minimum entitlements, would lose:
Overtime payments
Rest breaks
Penalty rates (higher pay on weekends and public holidays).
The ARA pointed to other industry awards that have lower gap-times between shifts. This includes hospitality (10 hours) and fast food, which does not have a minimum time frame between working hours.
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If managerial staff formally agree to these conditions with their boss, their yearly income would go from the industry minimum of roughly $54,000 to $67,000.
Retailers
Earlier this week,,,, Barbeques Galore, and MECCA Cosmetics were among nine major retailers to back the ARA’s proposed changes to the retail award.
In a statement to TDA, ARA’s Chief Industry Affairs Officer Fleur Brown said the changes would create a “fair and balanced outcome” for retail staff.
“The proposed changes are focused on creating a more flexible, modern system that better balances the needs of both workers and employers.”
Unions
Peak union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), estimates one million workers would be affected by the proposal.
Assistant Secretary Joseph Mitchell said: “It’s outrageous for big companies like Coles and Woolworths to demand their undervalued workforce work longer hours with reduced protections and lower wages.”
Mitchell also said similar changes could spread to other types of workers, including restaurant and bar staff covered under a different award.
Political reaction
Employment Minister Murray Watt told TDA organisations like the retail association “has the right to make applications” of this nature.
However, he said “this shouldn’t result in a loss of worker entitlements.”
“Does Peter Dutton support calls from big business to cut workers’ wages at a time of cost of living pressures?“
Shadow Employment Minister Michaelia Cash accused Watt of running “a baseless scare campaign” against the Coalition.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has also responded to big companies supporting the award changes.
“It’s hard to believe that in a cost of living crisis, our biggest retailers would even consider cutting people’s wages and conditions,” Allan said.
She vowed to fight against any proposed changes to the award wage “tooth and nail”.
The Fair Work Commission is scheduled to hold two weeks of hearings on the case starting on 17 March.
