The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is proposing several amendments to the general retail industry award, including the removal of penalty rates for higher-paid staff and ‘smoko breaks’.
According to the Australian Financial Review, the ARA seeks to exempt senior staff from award entitlements like overtime and weekend rates if they are paid 25 per cent more than the base rate, as well as reduce the gap between shifts on different days from 12 to 10 hours.
Employees could also waive meal breaks for six-hour shifts or opt to take meal or rest breaks at the start or end of a shift. Restrictions on working just one shift a day would also be removed.
In its submission to the Fair Work Commission, the ARA stated that the General Retail Industry Award 2020 currently presents many “rigid restrictions” that hinder productivity and lead to operational inefficiencies.
Major retailers such as Coles, Woolworth and Kmart have expressed support for the proposal.
Woolworths GM of rostering John Di Tirro told the AFR that the changes would benefit the company as its enterprise agreement reflected the award and its managers were covered by the award directly.
Coles’ head of operations, Grant Shelton, added that the commission award reconciliation was “incredibly complex”, “causes a significant administrative burden” and “requires considerable resources to be invested”.
Kmart head of supply operations Chris Melton believed that workers’ demand for a meal break, also known as ‘smoko break’, had diminished in the modern workplace.
Meanwhile, the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association is preparing to oppose most of the proposed changes, especially the 25 per cent “exemption rates”.
“These people would be in senior positions in stores and they work incredibly hard, work extremely long hours and their work is valued as it is under the award,” it told the AFR. “A 25 per cent buyout might buy administrative ease, but it doesn’t provide fairness and it doesn’t provide adequate compensation for the hours that people would do.”
