The Australian Retailers Association has blasted Fair Work Australia for upholding a decision to keep retailers beholden to a regulation requiring minimum shifts of three hours, saying it will cost thousands of jobs.
But the Australian Council of Trade Unions has welcomed the decision saying it will guarantee wages for younger workers, and wants to see other minimum requirements protected.
ARA deputy executive director Jennifer Cromarty says retailers are now chained to a requirement that will cost jobs.
“What we’re arguing for is a bit of common sense. When you look at the modern award process in its entirety, it’s been a simplification rather than a modernisation. They’ve tried to find a one-size-fits-all approach.”
“When we were at the hearings a lot of talk was about what would happen to casuals who aren’t school students, and that sort of discussion, but Fair Work hasn’t seemed to listen to those arguments.”
The regulations were actually brought into play in January. Some retailers in rural Victoria were highlighted for being the first to stop providing students with shifts due to the rules, and the ARA says this trend has continued elsewhere.
Cromarty references an ARA survey which states over 55% of retailers employ students for short shifts between school and close of business, and 55% said they would stop employing students to work these hours as a result of the requirement. Over 60% say they can’t give shifts under the new requirement.
Cromarty says the next point of call is to speak with Fair Work minister Simon Crean, to determine if any legislative correction can be made.
“It is only logical that minimum hours for casual workers should be reduced to a nationally-consistent two-hour shift.”
But ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence says the Fair Work decision protects workers’ rights.
“Today’s decision has confirmed the importance of the award safety net that is in place to protect all workers,” he said in a statement.
“Losing a guarantee of minimum hours of work would have put at risk the income and job security of 2.5 million Australian workers who are employed casually. A minimum call of three hours exists in many awards, and ensures that people are not called in for short shifts.
Lawrence says younger workers are missing out on other benefits, such as higher pay, and need to be given work guarantees.
“Minimum hours are an important safety net condition for all workers and act in awards like a minimum rate of pay. Young workers in the retail sector are paid as little as $8.89 an hour under the Modern Retail Award and it is not a major cost for employers to allow them minimum hours.”
But Cromarty says the ARA will continue to fight against the requirement and says businesses need to have the opportunity to fill in shifts where work is required.
“We’re looking for a common-sense approach to this issue. We want to see schoolkids being able to work these jobs, but this decision upholds this requirement and it’s disappointing.”
The ACTU says it wants opposition leader Tony Abbott to rule out scrapping other minimum requirements for workers ahead of the upcoming federal election.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
