Hundreds of thousands of Australian workers rely on penalty rates to make ends meet. A cut to penalty rates is a pay cut we can't afford and don't deserve.
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I recently left school and am trying to save money to pay for an education and equipment and rely on working Sundays to try and be financially stable. Because of these cuts I’ll lose the biggest shift I have. I will no longer be able to pay rent, electricity, phone bills, fuel etc. I will probably have to try and find a second job.
When I started working (at age 15), I was only making $8.50. Combine that with the fact that I go to school all day and study most nights, I can’t afford to be working enough shifts to be able to support me when I finish school.
I solely rely on my Saturday and Sunday penalty rates, in which I make the amount that I should be making without those rates, when considering the amount of work I actually do. I am trained on tills, floor, cosmetics and as a pharmacy assistant and yet I only make $11.50?
Above all this, full time employees and those who have higher paying jobs don’t usually work on weekends, never earning penalty rates. So why is it such an issue that us, who earn minimal amounts, are the only ones who suffer?
©2016 SDA. Authorised by Gerard Dwyer, National Secretary, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association, 6th Floor, 53 Queen Street, Melbourne, VIC