Pay rates on level playing field

STEPHEN Smith ( Letters 18- 3- 17) deliberately or recklessly mispresents the facts on penalty rates.

Currently, thanks to deals done by big business and big unions, weekend workers in the fast food industry, such as McDonalds and KFC receive $ 21.19 an hour for Sunday work.

But under the independent Fair Work Commission ( FWC) recent ruling on penalty rates, Sunday workers in fast food outlets will receive $ 24.30 an hour – that is $ 3.11 more an hour more than McDonalds and KFC.

Before that FWC ruling, small businesses paid Sunday workers $ 29.16 an hour compared to the $ 21.19 an hour paid by Maccas and KFC as a result of a union negotiated deal.

It’s a similar situation with a small family- owned clothing boutique, which currently is forced to pay $ 8 more an hour on a Sunday than Target, thanks to a union negotiated deal.

The new penalty rates for Sunday were decided not by the Government but by the independent FWC set up by Bill Shorten. The commissioners on the FWC were hand- picked by Bill Shorten.

By creating a more level playing field when it comes to pay rates, the new FWC penalty rates will encourage more new small businesses to open on Sundays, providing more jobs for Townsville’s unemployed.

IAN MACDONALD, Senator for Queensland.