MORRISON’S $1170 SUMMER HOLIDAY PAY CUT FOR WORKERS
Australian workers could lose between $840 and $1170 from their pay packets next summer holidays if Scott Morrison gets his way and public holiday penalty rates are scrapped.
Millions of workers across the economy are vulnerable to attack under Mr Morrison’s nasty industrial relations changes.
From cleaners to miners, aged care workers to waiters, checkout operators to nurses – all could take a massive pay cut if Mr Morrison is successful in suspending the Better Off Overall Test.
A new analysis of 10 of Australia’s most common workplace awards – using the government’s own fair pay calculator – shows just how much Australians could lose over the summer period if penalty rates for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Australia Day were scrapped*:
A typical aged care worker could lose $270 each day – adding up to $1080 over the month.
A level 3 banking, finance or insurance industry worker could lose $293 each day – adding up to $1170.
A level 2 cleaner could lose $263 a day – adding up to $1052.
A junior fast food worker could lose $227 a day – adding up to $908.
A retail worker could lose $220 on each of the public holidays – adding up to $880.
An underground mine worker could lose $287 a day – or $1149 over the four public holidays.
An hair or beauty worker could see $272 vanish from their pay packet – or $1089 if they worked all public holidays.
A typical level 2 hospitality worker could lose more than $210 a day – adding up to $840 over the summer break.
A level 5 registered nurse could lose $890 over the four public holidays days after copping a $223 a day pay cut.
And a waiter in a restaurant could lose $215 each day – meaning they would lose about $862 if required to work each public holiday.
These calculations only take into account what a worker would lose if they lost their public holidays penalty rates.
But workers could also lose their weekend, early morning and late night shift penalties under these changes.
This pay cut is Scott Morrison’s thanks to the people who got us through the pandemic – the frontline and essential workers who put themselves at risk by showing up to work and steering Australia through the crisis.
If you abolish something called the Better Off Overall Test, guess what will happen: workers will be worse off.
Scott Morrison’s earlier penalty rate cuts for retail, fast food, pharmacy and hospitality workers failed to deliver a single extra job. But now they want us to believe that cutting more penalty rates, cutting overtime, cutting shift loading, cutting allowances will create jobs?
Pay cuts are bad for workers and bad for the economy. For Australia to recover from the recession we need people with the money and confidence to spend.
The Government says the economy is doing well enough that businesses no longer need JobKeeper. But then they say the economy is doing so badly they need to cut the pay of workers. They can't have it both ways.
Australian workers know they cannot trust a Liberal Government with their wages and conditions.
(* All calculations are based on the difference between the base and public holiday pay rates of typical award workers who work standard eight hour days across all four public holidays)
THURSDAY, 14 JANUARY 2021