Labour Day in Melbourne

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Joseph27
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Labour Day in Melbourne

Post by Joseph27 » 12th Mar, '12, 17:25

Well it's a bizarre day to celebrate labour day but alas we are a weird bunch in Melbourne. I wanted to make an observation, over this weekend there are so many shops shut, it is bizarre having come from 3 years in Singapore and Jakarta where shutting your shop on the Monday of a long weekend is business suicide. I have spoken with a lot of small shop owners and a key rationale for shutting the shop is that they simply cannot afford to pay staff the award wages - it seems that whilst business and society has moved on over the past 20 years, the ACTU is stuck in a 1980's mindset where they can't allow for more flexible work place arrangements. Howard screwed this up but not leaving office in time to give the reins to Costello and cement work choices.

The arrangement under the ALP is great if you are employed in a place on a Sunday and are getting full award rates - waitress gets about $40 an hour - good money however try running a small cafe with 3 staff at those rates and you can't make a dollar - in fact you lose. Instead of grabbing 3 local staff and paying them an agreed to price where you can open, where 3 staff can earn some money, you shut and don't hire the staff... that is outshot of the ACTU model - a living wage but only if a business can afford you... Some business owners are then forced to do this under the table - pay a waitress $15 an hour cash - popular in the restaurant industry though hardly in keeping with best practice in a modern economy. The flexibility that should exist doesn't.

You may ultimately find employment continuing to scale back as the non mining economy falters and business simply cannot afford to hire staff. I wouldnt like to running a local electrical store here - it is becoming increasingly difficult for the commission to cover the award wage so for the majority of your sales staff. Yes I know the economy is changing and retailers have to modernize but for the most part it is a slow process and requires a much more flexible approach to the work place... We are not going to get that under the Gillard government
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Re: Labour Day in Melbourne

Post by Fat Bob » 12th Mar, '12, 18:02

The other option would be to remove all public holidays and then the people never have to get extra $$ for working.

Balances must be found, which is not usually done when trade unions and industry leaders meet. Unless you're in Singapore and LKY tells you off.
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Re: Labour Day in Melbourne

Post by Pinklepurr » 12th Mar, '12, 18:07

Funny I was just thinking how odd it was to have shops open on a Labour Day holiday. I can't see any reason for it, OK well except for supermarkets, I think that would kill me. Our local shops were almost all open today and I thought it was weird, such a waste of a beautiful day, and no one was in there shopping (I went to the supermarket) they were all out enjoying it. I felt sorry for those who felt it necessary to open.
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Re: Labour Day in Melbourne

Post by Joseph27 » 12th Mar, '12, 18:14

It's Sundays as well for double time - and Saturdays at time and a half - work boxing day for triple time. One must earn a living wage however society is no longer monday to friday and flexibility needs to take that more into account- at present it doesn't. The reverse to that is that its a bloody expensive place to live - high tax, very high house prices, high interest rates - a nice life style at a huge price... at least the wine is cheap.

Pinklepurr - fully agree, they should be shut but certainly remember my busiest days in Singapore was the May Day long weekend.... a day for workers to celebrate by working
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Re: Labour Day in Melbourne

Post by Pinklepurr » 12th Mar, '12, 20:09

Yeah but it is a bit different in Singapore...so many people go shopping as a pastime rather than a necessity, also those public holidays are one of the only times many get to go shopping. Here it is a little different.

Mind you, I agree on the double time, time and a half etc being just a bit silly. Times have changed since those rules first came in, unfortunately a lot of people want the best of both worlds when it comes down to it and they are still getting it, no one is ready to stand up and say it just doesn't work both ways.
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Re: Labour Day in Melbourne

Post by Kooky » 13th Mar, '12, 06:43

People here seem to go away for long weekends when there's a PH. It's a great time to shop in the city :)

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