Sunday Pay Rates !

Anyone confused by the argument about reducing double pay rates for those working on Sunday to the time and a half rate that applies on Saturdays would do well to have a chat with an "oldie " who remembers the world we lived in when this form of compensation for weekend work first came into force.

Those were the days when the shops opened at nine in the morning and closed at five thirty, Monday to Friday, and opened for a half day on Saturday.  A new phenomenon - Supermarkets - arrived and opened seven days, but they could not sell you red meat after one PM on a Saturday nor at all on Sunday.  The people tasked with working in them were paid time and half rate on Saturday and double time on Sunday in compensation for giving up their weekends.

Now - about those weekends.  The opening hours for the pubs saw the bars close at six in the evening and they were fully closed all day Sunday.   If you intended to party on Saturday night you needed to buy your booze before that six PM deadline and Saturday afternoon was the traditional time for sport -  Aussie rules in southern states and Rugby League in NSW and Queensland.

Sunday was the day nothing opened - except the churches !   No picture theatres. No Pubs.  In most suburbs the only sign of life might be the local milk bar and that was usually family owned - and staffed.  Perhaps a brass band playing in the park if Sunday was a bright, sunny day.

Compare that with the life we live today.  We expect to shop on all seven days and we expect to eat out way into the evening and be entertained at no extra cost just because the day we choose happens to be in the weekend.  The modern work cycle can be anywhere in that twenty-four hour spectrum,  A lot of people choose night work because it frees up their days if they are passionate surfers and those doing study like a mix of hours that accommodates both activities.   We have become a 24/7 society.

This pay issue is grinding out as a fight between the dogmatic unions and their scare campaign and the punishing drag on costs that see a lot of businesses fail to open and trade on a Sunday because it is impossible to make a profit.   The businesses that do open are prone to be understaffed - often just the proprietor and his or her family - to keep costs under control.  Dropping double pay rates to even time and a half would see a host of new jobs created and many businesses that now close on Sunday open their doors.

The unions tactic will be to claim that any alteration to pay rates is a return to "Work Choices " but deciding the issue is in the hands of the independently setup Fair Work Commission and the government has promised that any policy change will be taken as a policy plank to the next election. Unfortunately, we in Australia are out of step with the rest of the world.   This weird preoccupation with isolating weekend work from the rest of the work week has long been abandoned in other countries and when Australians travel overseas this must be glaringly apparent to them.   We are clinging to a past regime that makes no sense in a modern society.

Of course those seeking Sunday work - with it's double pay - would like it to continue.  Much of the workforce is employed on a casual basis and that extra Sunday money makes up for reduced shifts but there is no advantage to the unemployed - and many of them do not have a job because their labour is too expensive because of these penalty rates.   Shops that open for longer hours and trade again on a Sunday create more jobs and widen the employment pool to the advantage of everybody.

Deciding this issue will be pure politics.   It is a tactical battle for hearts and minds - and the decisive factor will be way of thinking the winning side attains in the minds of the masses.   It will be impossible to implement without public acceptance, but it is inevitable in the long term because it runs against the tide of change that has been relentlessly changing this nation.   Everything from the end of the six O'çlock pub swill to Sunday trading happened against fierce opposition to maintain the status quo  !