Call for penalty rates to be fixed in the wake of landmark deal in South Australia

Recently qualified chef Audrey Atkins at La Rosa Restaurant in Sydney hopes to use her job to travel and work overseas. 

THE Business Council of Australia has declared the Australian economy cannot be “held hostage to ad hoc deals” on penalty rates and called for nationwide uniformity in the wake of a landmark deal in South Australia.

The deal between retailers and a union will see penalty rates abolished on Saturdays and halved on Sundays in return for a higher base rate of pay and improved conditions.

It comes as businesses struggle to open on Sundays due to crippling penalty rates that leave even junior staff earning over $50 an hour.

The landmark deal ­received bipartisan support from both sides of federal politics yesterday.

Council chief Jennifer Westacott welcomed the deal, but conceded it was time there was more uniformity on the issue among the states.

 “It looks like a good deal … it looks like a commonsense deal,” Ms Westacott said.

“(But) you can’t have the economy being held hostage to ad hoc deals. We need a lot more predictability, a lot more ­simplification and this ­can’t be solved on a deal-by-­deal basis.”

Ms Westacott said penalty rates were important, but asked for more scrutiny.

“We want to see penalty rates preserved, but we want to see a lot more scrutiny on them. We want to see a minimum rate that is set by the Fair Work Commission and we want to see awards ­stipulate the trigger points.”

It seems there will be some time before unions nationally agree to the deal.

NSW Unions contacted yesterday did not want to comment because they were too busy on the state election campaign. ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said penalty rates needed to stay.

“The bottom line here is that the business lobby want to take penalty rates away from workers in exchange for a big fat nothing,” he said.

Federal Small Business Minister Bruce Billson said the deal highlighted government laws had the flexibility to change agreements.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he was open to further deals around the country providing workers did not have their pay cut.

“I like what I’ve seen … in terms of the retail industry in Australia, but for me, the lesson is you can do it in the current ­system, and if your focus isn’t cutting workers’ pay overall — trying to get the right ­balance — it’s a win-win,’’ Mr Shorten said

TRAINEE CHEFS ARE A RARE BREED THAT AUSSIE KITCHENS NEED

Neil Keene

APPRENTICE chefs are becoming rarer than the steaks they cook as burgeoning growth in the hospitality industry results in giant shortfalls of good kitchen staff.

Restaurant and Catering Australia said yesterday that NSW needed an extra 2500 chefs, from apprentices all the way up to the top of the career ladder, to cater for rising demand.

CEO John Hart said nocturnal shifts and weekend work were among the key reasons people steered clear of the vocation. They are also largely to blame for the high dropout rate of apprentice chefs, with only about 40 per cent sticking it out to become fully qualified.

Sydney chef Audrey Atkins, who graduated from her apprenticeship this month, said that although the hours were a challenge, the rewards of the job and the opportunities it offered made it all worthwhile.

And she hoped her qualifications would eventually allow her to travel and work overseas.

Michael Bennett, CEO of group training organisation HTN, said part of the challenge was promoting those benefits to potential young chefs. New industry website discoverhospitality.com.au was launched to get that message across.

Recently qualified chef Audrey Atkins at La Rosa Restaurant