Labour Day in Melbourne
Posted: 12th Mar, '12, 17:25
Well it's a bizarre day to celebrate labour day but alas we are a weird bunch in Melbourne. I wanted to make an observation, over this weekend there are so many shops shut, it is bizarre having come from 3 years in Singapore and Jakarta where shutting your shop on the Monday of a long weekend is business suicide. I have spoken with a lot of small shop owners and a key rationale for shutting the shop is that they simply cannot afford to pay staff the award wages - it seems that whilst business and society has moved on over the past 20 years, the ACTU is stuck in a 1980's mindset where they can't allow for more flexible work place arrangements. Howard screwed this up but not leaving office in time to give the reins to Costello and cement work choices.
The arrangement under the ALP is great if you are employed in a place on a Sunday and are getting full award rates - waitress gets about $40 an hour - good money however try running a small cafe with 3 staff at those rates and you can't make a dollar - in fact you lose. Instead of grabbing 3 local staff and paying them an agreed to price where you can open, where 3 staff can earn some money, you shut and don't hire the staff... that is outshot of the ACTU model - a living wage but only if a business can afford you... Some business owners are then forced to do this under the table - pay a waitress $15 an hour cash - popular in the restaurant industry though hardly in keeping with best practice in a modern economy. The flexibility that should exist doesn't.
You may ultimately find employment continuing to scale back as the non mining economy falters and business simply cannot afford to hire staff. I wouldnt like to running a local electrical store here - it is becoming increasingly difficult for the commission to cover the award wage so for the majority of your sales staff. Yes I know the economy is changing and retailers have to modernize but for the most part it is a slow process and requires a much more flexible approach to the work place... We are not going to get that under the Gillard government
The arrangement under the ALP is great if you are employed in a place on a Sunday and are getting full award rates - waitress gets about $40 an hour - good money however try running a small cafe with 3 staff at those rates and you can't make a dollar - in fact you lose. Instead of grabbing 3 local staff and paying them an agreed to price where you can open, where 3 staff can earn some money, you shut and don't hire the staff... that is outshot of the ACTU model - a living wage but only if a business can afford you... Some business owners are then forced to do this under the table - pay a waitress $15 an hour cash - popular in the restaurant industry though hardly in keeping with best practice in a modern economy. The flexibility that should exist doesn't.
You may ultimately find employment continuing to scale back as the non mining economy falters and business simply cannot afford to hire staff. I wouldnt like to running a local electrical store here - it is becoming increasingly difficult for the commission to cover the award wage so for the majority of your sales staff. Yes I know the economy is changing and retailers have to modernize but for the most part it is a slow process and requires a much more flexible approach to the work place... We are not going to get that under the Gillard government