Sunday penalty rate cuts will hit retail, fast food workers

On July 1, the second round of the federal government’s controversial penalty rate cuts will take effect, impacting workers in the retail, hospitality, pharmacy and fast food sectors.

The changes affect five of the awards in Australia: the General Retail Industry Award, Fast Food Industry Award, Restaurant Industry Award, Pharmacy Industry Award and the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2010.

These awards cover industries that employ millions of people. Sunday’s changes affect all but the restaurant industry award, in which changes took effect in 2017.

Fast food industry Sunday penalty rates will fall from 145 per cent to 135 per cent, meaning the minimum wage on Sunday will fall from $30.15 an hour to $28.07. This will drop to 125 per cent in July 2019.

For retail workers, Sunday penalty rates will fall from 195 per cent to 180 per cent on July 1, meaning the Sunday minimum wage will fall from $40.54 an hour to $37.42 an hour.

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) national secretary Gerard Dwyer said the next round of penalty rate cuts would make life much harder for workers in retail and hospitality and their families.

“On July 1, 700,000 Australians, including thousands of retail and fast food workers will get an additional pay cut of up to $55 a month when their Sunday penalty rates are slashed a further 10 to 15 per cent,” he said.

“In total, these penalty rate cuts will mean between $2000 and $6000 a year in cuts for workers whose employment is already insecure and low income.”

Mr Dwyer said there was no evidence the penalty rate cuts to date had created jobs or stimulated the economy.

More information see the Fair Work Ombudsman website: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/penalty-rates-and-allowances/penalty-rates-changes-2017