Federal MP for Ballarat Catherine King said yesterday’s decision by the Fair Work Commission confirmed that one in five workers in the Ballarat region would see significant cuts to their take home pay in less than a month.
“Beginning on Sunday July the 2nd, people in our community who work in Hospitality or Retail will have their pay cut. A cut that this government can stop.
“At a time when businesses nationally are recording profit growth, and our lowest paid workers have not seen a real pay rise in years, rather than cutting the wages of our lowest paid workers a better solution is making sure people in our community can keep paying their bills.”
The solution is simple – these cuts can be stopped if Malcolm Turnbull supports Labor’s legislation to do so.
The Prime Minister can support that legislation when Parliament resumes on Tuesday June 13 and it will ensure no worker has to have their pay cut as a result of this decision.
As a result of this decision people will lose money on their first Sunday worked, which is 2 July this year.
It also comes the day after Mr Turnbull is handing high incomes earners a big tax cut – on 1 July, millionaires will get a tax cut of $16,400, while up to 700,000 people on low and middle incomes will have their pay cut.
This is an appalling decision and comes at a time when wages are falling in real terms.
It doesn’t matter if the cuts are phased in over two or three years, the damage is the same – people will be losing real money.
“I don’t support any cuts to penalty rates, and call on Malcolm Turnbull to stand up for Australian workers. He should protect workers in the Ballarat community, in the Australian community, support Labor’s legislation and stop these cuts from happening.” Ms King said.
DATE: JUNE 6th 2017