Penalties and loadings !

The Australian Industrial Relations commission is working on a new set of employment awards, to come into service in 2010.

To the horror of the business world it seems that the ethics of the present Socialist government are coming to the fore - and there is a strong chance of a return to the " penalties and loadings " regime of the 1940's and beyond.

Older people will remember the " nine to five " thinking of those days. Shops traded during those hours with a three hour stint on Saturday morning - and then everything closed until Monday morning.

No sport on Sunday. No pubs, movie theatres or department stores had Sunday trading. The supermarkets were open - but by law were not permitted to sell red meat. Chicken and fish were on sale, but red meat could be seen but not bought because supermarkets were deemed unfair competition to butchers.

How things have changed. We are now a 24/7 society - and yet there is a chance we will return to the bad old days of " nine to five " thinking if awards change to a " penalty payment " for those working outside those hours.

In some retail areas it could mean a fifty percent increase in the wages bill if we see the reintroduction of " time and a half " and " double time " for shifts outside those hours.

The figures are staggering. 1.4 million Australians work Saturdays. 700,000 work on a Sunday - and 2.5 million work between 7 pm and 7 am.

Penalty rates would be a nightmare for paymasters to calculate - and the added wage cost would obviously increase prices and fuel inflation.

The world has moved on since the 1940's and people accept that the hours they work can be somewhere within the working week - aimed at the times when demand is highest for their particular industry.

Once penalty payments return Australia will pay the price in increased retail prices - and this at a time when we are struggling to avoid the most painful recession in recent memory.

The Australian Industrial Relations commission - and the socialists in the Federal government - should think again !