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New penalties fight after court backs cuts

Federal Labor is vowing to keep up the fight against a cut to penalty rates after the Federal Court backed a decision by the independent umpire.

Oct 11, 2017, updated Oct 11, 2017
A range of workers will take home less pay due to a cut in penalty rates.

A range of workers will take home less pay due to a cut in penalty rates.

Unions representing hospitality and retail workers challenged the Fair Work Commission’s decision to reduce some penalty rates for hospitality, retail and fast-food workers.

But the court today found no jurisdictional error in the commission’s February decision to cut Sunday and public holiday rates for full-time and part-time workers.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten was disappointed by the verdict, and again pledged to restore penalty rates in the first 100 days of a Labor government.

“Malcolm Turnbull’s support for cuts to penalty rates shows how out of touch he is with the lives of middle and working class people,” he said.

“He is elitist and doesn’t understand how much these cuts will hurt families struggling with the cost of living.”

But the prime minister said he respected the decision of the court, noting the commission had considered the issue over a long period of time.

“These are the same unions that have been trading away their members’ penalty rates for years, but nonetheless they took it to the Federal Court and the decision of Fair Work Australia was upheld,” Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.

“So that is the independent umpire doing its work and its work being confirmed by the court.”

United Voice and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, who brought the case forward, both vowed to continue their campaigns.

United Voice’s national secretary Jo-anne Schofield said the verdict of the court was a blow to workers.

“What it shows quite clearly is that our system is out of whack,” she told reporters in Melbourne.

“When the people who need protection from our system the most are let down in this way, it is a clear sign that our laws need to change.”

The union is working through the lengthy decision and could not yet say whether it would look at avenues for appeal.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged unions to accept the umpire’s decision.

“Now that the Federal Court has made its decision, employers should be able to get on with implementing these changes, and start offering longer opening hours and more shifts on Sundays,” chief executive James Pearson said.

The chamber estimates the commission’s decision will affect about 220,000 workers in retail, pharmacy, hospitality and fast food.

“We are talking about limited changes – for example, from double-time to time-and-three-quarters for Sunday work,” Pearson said.

– AAP

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