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Articles on Penalty rates

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Protesters were back on the streets demanding penalty rates be left alone when the Coalition government asked the Productivity Commission to look at workplace relations last year. AAP/Angus Livingston

The penalty rates time-bomb is ticking

Cutting penalty rates can be a vote-changer and the looming Fair Work Commission decision is tricky for both sides of politics. So what cards do the parties hold and how might they play them?
There are reasons why people get paid more to work out of hours beyond the working week being a social construct. from www.shutterstock.com.au

How reducing penalty rates will affect workers’ health

Penalty rates are often cast as a roadblock to business or employment but, research sees penalty rates as a deterrent against employing workers in ways that risk workers’ health.
Brendan O'Connor came under interrogation about Labor’s position on weekend penalty rates. Dean Lewins/AAP

Labor struggles with the sticky paper of penalty rates

Normally it is the Coalition that is on the defensive over industrial relations at election time, with Labor claiming workers’ rights are under threat from the conservatives. But currently Labor finds…
The Productivity Commission last year recommended that Sunday penalty rates should be brought in line with those applying to Saturday. Evan Schwarten/AAP

Penalty rate cut will hurt economy without helping business: Labor

The federal opposition says that reducing penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors would widen the gender pay gap across the economy and hit consumption.
The great majority of Sunday workers who would lose penalty rates under proposed IR reforms, are non-unionists. Flickr/Rae Allen

Workplace reforms would hit workers outside unions hardest

The Productivity Commission’s proposed industrial relations reform goes after unions, but will generally affect the non-unionised workforce most.
The Howard-era WorkChoices redefined the terms around which the debate on workplace relations reform has been couched. AAP/Andrew Brownbill

Enterprise contracts echo ‘take it or leave it’ world of WorkChoices

Echoes of WorkChoices? The Coalition is keen to avoid any whiff of the failed policy, but some of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations have a strong flavour of it.
The Retail Council has said their research shows a significant proportion of retail workers were willing to work “the purported anti-social hours”. AAP Image/Paul Miller

Either way, cut workers’ pay: Employers’ shifting case against penalty rates

Are we all hitting the shops on Sundays in record numbers or are shopping precincts reduced to ghost towns on the weekends due to penalty rates? It seems employer groups want it both ways – and penalty rates cut.
Can people who work weekends really choose not to? AAP/Robert McGrath

A day of rest: the costs of removing penalty rates

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently commented that if employees “don’t want to work on a weekend, fair enough, don’t work on a weekend … But if you do want to work on a weekend — and lots of…
A debate about penalty rates ought to involve the cash economy. Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com

Penalty rates and their role in Australia’s cash economy

Amid the ongoing debate over the future of penalty rates, a subtle but important issue also deserves to be examined: their impact on Australia’s “cash economy”. The Fair Work Commission is currently reviewing…
Like it or not, working on a Sunday is not the same as working on a Tuesday. Mick Tsikas/AAP

Before you call for penalty rates to be cut, try working a few Sundays

Not for the first time this year, Workplace Minister Eric Abetz has been forced to calm the rumblings after another government minister weighed in on penalty rates, and why they should be cut. Changes…
The government wants young people to be learning or earning, but at some point they should be treated as adults. Dean Lewins/AAP

Earning, learning or confused: mixed signals on jobs for young

When should a young person start getting paid as an adult? It depends on where the money is coming from, according to current government policy - policy that is sending conflicting messages about the true…
Tony Abbott has claimed penalty rates force businesses to close their doors AAP

Viewpoints: should penalty rates be abolished?

With a major review of workplace awards underway, the Federal Government has asked the Fair Work Commission to consider whether penalty rates and other minimum conditions are still relevant. In this Viewpoints…
Are penalty rates becoming old fashioned? Retail image sourced from www.shutterstock.com

Penalty rates in awards: do we really need them?

There have been renewed calls from employers - mainly in the retail sector - for reductions in the wage premiums (or penalty rates) that industries are required to pay staff for work undertaken at non-standard…

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