Speaking on her first visit to Mount Isa, new Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus says the consequences of cutting penalty rates in regional communities would be devastating.
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Ms McManus said workers in Mount Isa would lose millions in take home pay every year when the Turnbull Government slashes penalty rates on July 1.
“Australians are increasingly being pushed into insecure work, while the cost of living is on the rise, and the Turnbull Government is undoing laws that protect workers rights,” Ms McManus said.
“The Turnbull Government has failed to deliver a real jobs policy for Australians, instead launching an attack on weekend penalty rates, as many regional Queensland communities face stubbornly high rates of unemployment.”
Ms McManus who was appointed to the role overseeing Australian’s union movement in March was in Mount Isa Thursday to attend a Labor union dinner at the Irish Club and meet with community members to hear their concerns about cuts to penalty rates, rising cost of living and inequality.
“The Turnbull Government is tightening the screws on hardworking Australians at the same time as attacking the laws that protect working people and giving a free pass to big business handing-out company tax cuts,” she said.
The last parliamentary chance to stop the changes to penalty rates failed 73-72 in parliament this week despite LNP backbencher George Christensen crossing the floor to back a Labor bill.
The cuts to penalty rates are due to come in at the start of the month despite Ms McManus saying wage growth was the lowest it has ever been while company profits soar. I
“Slashing penalty rates is a cut to workers’ take home pay that they can’t afford and don’t deserve,” she said.
“It will mean many people who do work Sundays will be forced to work harder for less.”
She thanked Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter for supporting Labor’s bill this week and said they would not be asking employers not pass on the cuts to employees.
“Plenty of workers get paid more than what the minimum is, so we’ll be highlighting those good employers as well as the bad ones who want the rates cut,” she said.
Ms McManus said 40% of workers were in insecure work. “Jobs are being cut and casualised,” she said. “A whole generation does not know what it is like to have a paid sick day or a paid holiday.”
Plenty of workers get paid more than what the minimum is, so we’ll be highlighting those good employers as well as the bad ones who want the rates cut
- Sally McManus