Media Release: NEW STUDY SHOWS WORKCHOICES CUTS PAY IN RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRIES

FROM THE MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

DATE: Thursday, September 13, 2007

NEW STUDY SHOWS WORKCHOICES CUTS PAY IN RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRIES

A new report shows workers in the retail and hospitality industries have lost up to 30 per cent of their earnings under WorkChoices, Deputy Premier and Industrial Relations Minister, Rob Hulls, said today.

Mr Hulls launched the Sydney University report which shows employees in liquor stores have been short changed between 12 per cent and 30 per cent; workers in fast food businesses have lost between 12.5 per cent and 21.3 per cent; those in bakeries have lost between 18 per cent and 24 per cent; and those in restaurants have lost up to 15 per cent.

“This report confirms real bargaining between employers and employees has been thrown out the window,” Mr Hulls said.

The report, compiled by the Sydney University’s Workplace Research Centre, compares 70 pre-WorkChoices collective agreements with 339 post WorkChoices collective agreements in the retail and hospitality industries in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

It reveals that six ‘templates’ have been used to make nearly half of these agreements which mostly reflect minimum standards. A staggering 24 per cent of these agreements have been devised by one consultant.

Despite the best economic conditions in a generation, the report shows more than 74 per cent of WorkChoices’ agreements either remove or reduce casual loadings, week-end penalty rates and holiday loading. And they target the most vulnerable workers in small businesses who are not represented by a union.

“That is an absolute disgrace and it exposes WorkChoices for what it really is – an unfair and unbalanced gimmick used to cut the wages and conditions of working Australian families,” Mr Hulls said.

The study, called ‘Lowering the Standards: From Awards to Work Choices in Retail and Hospitality Collective Agreements’, measures what people are losing when protected award conditions, such as penalty rates, are cut from their agreements.

“The report clearly demonstrates that when unions or large employers become involved, using their greater bargaining experience, the standard of agreements improved,” Mr Hulls said.

About 90 per cent of union agreements preserved almost all protected award matters, whereas 50 per cent of non-union agreements abolished five or more conditions.

Mr Hulls released the report ahead of Friday’s meeting of State and Territory industrial relations ministers in Sydney. He called on Federal Workplace Minister Joe Hockey to come out of hiding and attend the meeting to hear how WorkChoices is impacting on working families across Australia.