Andrew Clennell
March 19, 2017
The Daily Telegraph
LABOR and the unions have been branded hypocrites for trying to block the proposed cuts to weekend penalty rates while at the same time backing wage deals that allow fast-food giants like McDonald’s and KFC to pay their staff less than the Fair Work Commission’s suggested new pay level.
Union-sanctioned enterprise bargaining agreements mean many workers at the nation’s large fast-food chains earn about $3 an hour less now than they would even under the FWC’s lower Sunday penalty rates.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will today release details of how union pay deals have short-changed fast-food, hospitality and retail workers by cutting deals with the big chains so their staff receive up to $10 an hour less on Sundays than family-run businesses.
Mr Turnbull will also move to ban secret payments between businesses and unions of the kind revealed by the Royal Commission into Trade Unions involving Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s former union, the Australian Workers’ Union, when the Labor leader was at the helm.
Mr Turnbull’s laws will involve maximum sentences of 10 years in jail and a $900,000 fine for individuals who infringe them, and a $4.5 million fine for corporations.
The Heydon royal commission uncovered a raft of payments between employers and unions, which it called “corrupting benefits” designed to ensure companies favourable treatment from unions.
It is estimated that more than 250,000 workers employed in the retail and fast-food sector receive a total of at least $300 million a year less, due to below-award EBAs.
Government figures show a family chicken shop pays its staff $29.16 an hour on Sundays — more than the KFC rate of just $21.19 an hour.
A family takeaway must also pay $29.16 an hour, while the McDonald’s Sunday rate in some regions is just $21.08.
Bed and breakfast businesses must pay $31.87 an hour — $10 more than the $21.63 paid by a five-star hotel. And while a family greengrocer is forced to cough up $37.05 an hour, Woolworths pays just $31.79.
Bill Shorten’s war on Sunday penalty rate changes has been torpedoed by revelations his union backers have signed deals leaving thousands of fast-food workers on $3 an hour less than they would receive under the proposed cuts.
Union-sanctioned enterprise bargaining agreements mean many workers at the nation’s large fast-food chains earn about $3 an hour less now than they would even under the FWC’s lower Sunday penalty rates.
The differences are all due to union-sanctioned pay deals with big businesses.
There are several enterprise agreements across the country that fail the Better Off Overall Than The Award Test — or the former No Disadvantage Test.
In one instance, the royal commission into union corruption revealed packaging giant Visy was making payments worth $190,000 to the AWU. Research by Assistant Minister for Industry Craig Laundy shows that at the same time it was underpaying its workers
“Bill Shorten is a complete hypocrite when it comes to penalty rates,” Mr Turnbull said.
“He trashes the independence of the Fair Work Commission that he helped establish and whose decisions he pledged to support, while ignoring deals between unions and big business that leave many workers up to $10 an hour worse off on a Sunday.
It is estimated that more than 250,000 workers employed in the retail and fast-food sector are underpaid by at least $300 million a year, due to below-award EBAs.
“The government will not stand by and let union bosses and big business rip off workers, including some of the most vulnerable workers — 16- and 17-year-old students.
“If Bill Shorten is serious about protecting the take-home pay of low-paid workers, he should call on the unions and big business to back-pay every worker who is worse off because of these dodgy deals.”
A spokesman for Mr Shorten said: “Bill’s proud of his record putting workers first. All the agreements Bill negotiated were good for workers.”
The PM’s attack comes as the Coalition cut Labor’s lead in the opinion polls to 52-48 and lifted Mr Turnbull’s personal ratings, according to the latest Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper.
Mr Laundy’s research revealed that if the FWC decision to cut penalty rates were in place today, a small business in the fast-food sector operating under the terms of the award would pay a Level 1 worker $184.68 for a 7.6 hour shift on a Sunday.
The same Level 1 worker putting in the same hours for one of the big chains would be paid $161.04 at KFC (Queensland and NSW) and $158.54 at McDonald’s (Tasmania).
Mr Laundy, a former hotelier, said he was angry because he always paid award wages but the unions had allowed situations in other workplaces where this did not happen.
“I and every other small to medium sized business in this country operates under the award,” he said.
“I’ll be buggered if I’m going to be accused of being unfair to workers by people in Labor who have made a career off the back of doing the wrong thing by workers and underpaying them.”
Mr Turnbull’s move comes after the government was asked to make a submission to the FWC on implementing its decision to reduce Sunday penalty rates. It is understood that the government submission will recommend the phasing in of the new penalty rates over a period of years.
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