The Federal Government is opposing a move by big retailers to scrap penalty rates for workers in exchange for a 25 per cent pay rise. The proposal will be put to the test by the fair work commission in a case that could affect tens-of-thousands of the country's lowest paid employees.
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00:00For this supermarket manager, penalty rates go a long way towards making ends meet.
00:08I bought a house with my wife, we have a mortgage, every dollar counts.
00:14Now retailers, led by the big supermarkets, are pushing for changes to the Retail Award,
00:20including allowing some staff to opt out of penalty rates and overtime in exchange for
00:25a 25% pay rise.
00:28It's not a fantastic deal when you consider how much overtime and what the penalty rates
00:32would actually achieve for us.
00:34Retailers argue the award is too complex, with almost 1,000 individual pay rates.
00:39The onerous detail puts an enormous burden on small to medium businesses in particular.
00:45There is no proposal to remove penalty rates, this will only apply to employees that agree
00:51to it.
00:52The jobs have been done and we certainly feel that workers should be ahead under these provisions.
00:59Retail employs more than a million workers across the country, well over half are women,
01:05mostly in part-time, low-paid jobs.
01:08Major decisions relating to this workforce sets a precedent for other industries.
01:13There will be real ramifications for a lot of workers just because of the sheer number
01:18of employees who have their entitlements set under this award.
01:23The Federal Employment Minister has weighed in.
01:26We need to draw a line in the sand and say that it is not on for the supermarkets and
01:30the big retailers to rip away penalty rates from people earning as little as $53,000 per
01:36year.
01:37The Coalition says it's a matter for the Fair Work Commission, which will hear the case
01:41next month.