COMMUNITY SPLIT ON SUNDAY PAY CHANGE

It’ll hurt ... but many benefits too

IT’S A WIN: Coffee Cartel's Nathan Johnson says the cut to penalty rates could be positive for trade in the city’s CBD on Sundays. THE Fair Work Commission’s decision to cut penalty rates has been met with a mixed reaction from the Geelong business community.

The Geelong Trades Hall Council criticised the move as “unfair”, but some small business owners said the changes could result in more trade and employment opportunities for local businesses.

Geelong Chamber of Commerce chief executive Bernadette Uzelac said her organisation supported the “landmark decision”.

“We believe that by reducing Sunday penalty rates, cafes, coffee shops, restaurants and retail busi- nesses in Geelong will now have the capacity to employ more casual staff or offer more hours to their fulltime or part-time employees,” Ms Uzelac said.

Geelong Trades Hall Council secretary Colin Vernon felt otherwise.

“Wages cuts of between 25 and 50 per cent for working Sundays and public holidays will negatively impact on workers’ take-home pay and no worker will be better off as a result of this decision,” Mr Vernon said.

Geelong’s hospitality community was split over the commission’s ruling yesterday.

Coffee Cartel owner Nathan Johnson said the change could have some positive effects, perhaps enabling more local businesses to stay open all weekend, which would make a big change to the city centre.

“I work Sundays, and I’m a business owner so I work seven days a week, but I literally can’t afford to open on a Sunday — it stresses me out.

“I wear that cost every Sunday. I break even, but I’m happy — we’re open and we’re doing something for Geelong and the community. But anything that can help us out makes it better for us, because then we can employ more people.”

He said the penalty rate changes could help businesses take on more employees.

Sisters Trish and Helen Brosnan have owned the James St Bakery in Geelong’s CBD for more than six years. Like many hospitality managers, they came up through the industry and know first-hand how hard it can be for workers to make ends meet because of low pay.

“It’s hard to charge more than $3.70 for a coffee, but what do you do on a day when you’ve got to pay penalty rates but you don’t want to put a surcharge on people?” Trish Brosnan said.

Helen Brosnan said her gut feeling was that the ruling was not right. “It’s a very low paid industry, so you rely on getting the penalty rates on weekends.”

In handing down the ruling, Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross acknowledged the process could “cause hardship” for workers reliant on the current rates.

“Transition arrangements will be put in place, so that workers affected will have time to get used to the changes,” Justice Ross said.

“Anything that can help us out makes it better for us, because then we can employ more people.” COFFEE CARTEL OWNER NATHAN JOHNSON