This ever changing world !

People under thirty years of age would find it almost unbelievable to visit the world that existed half a century ago.   Sunday was a day as " dead as the Dodo " !     No football or horse racing.  No movie theatres open.   The shopping centres shuttered - and deserted.   The pubs were firmly closed - and only residents catered for with meals.

Saturday was the " fun day " of the week, but in many cities and towns the shops closed at twelve noon, and then the supermarkets began to open all day, but with some quaint restrictions on trade.   It was illegal to sell red meat after the clock struck noon.  It was necessary to put covers over meat displays because the butcher shops closed at noon - and supermarkets were seen as unfair competition with their extended hours.

The unions imposed a draconian pay impost on any employer who wished to operate outside the hallowed Monday to Friday, nine to five operating scene.   Time and a half and double pay rates became the norm - and they are still with us, despite the civilized world opting for seven day trading as we now know it.

The NSW Business Council is seeking an end to penalty rates and the implementation of pay scales that reflect the real world that we now live in.   They claim that employees still work a five day week, but that the five days may be scheduled anywhere during the seven days that shops are open to trade.   Penalty rates would only occur if an employee was asked to work longer than a regular shift, or on an extra day added to that five day working week.

This existing mish mash of pay scales has caused many businesses to close on Sundays and it certainly inhibits employers from considering expanding trading hours.   Removing penalty rates would certainly lower unemployment and expand job opportunities because penalty rates make increasing staff to the levels needed to give good service a bar to profitability.     If any business can not return a profit, then there is no option other than to close the doors and cease trading.

We live in a new - but ever changing - world and yet the dogmatic unions are still clinging to an era that ceased a long time ago.   Getting a job requires an employee to provide service when the public wishes to shop and that can be at any time of the day or night - over the entire seven day week.    The employer will only open a business when the demand for service exists - and today the public lifestyle is ever more expansive.

Strangely, the unions are claiming that Saturday and Sunday are somehow hallowed and must be preserved for family time together, and yet it is the same employees now working extended hours who are the new customers seeking service when their shift ends - and they seek an expanded lifestyle - provided by others cheerfully manning the services they crave.

The world has moved on from the nine to five mentality.  It's time trading hours and penalty rates reflected the world as it now exists !