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TONY Ciancio says he would open his Bendigo deli more often and employ staff for more hours if he didn’t have to pay such high penalty rates on weekends and public holidays.
Elise Dutra, 24, says her weekend wages make it possible for her to juggle her third-year baking apprenticeship with the honours degree in photography she studies at La Trobe.
These are the faces of debate unleashed by the Productivity Commission when it released a draft report on Tuesday which detailed a wide range of potential changes to workplace relations laws.
Among the proposals are changes to weekend penalty rates for retail and hospitality workers which could see their Sundays wages – usually double the rate of their base pay – fall to the same level as Saturdays.
This would not include other workers, including emergency workers such as paramedics.
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Mr Ciancio, owner of The Epicurean Delicatessen, said current penalty rates were a deterrent for small local businesses.
“It should be more flexible,” Mr Ciancio said.
“Things have changed over the years but [workplace relations] is the one thing that hasn’t – if anything they’ve gotten more stringent.”
But Ms Dutra, who lives at home, said penalty rates allowed her to balance university with work.
“In my last job in Strathfieldsaye, which was also in hospitality, I worked on weekends and the penalty rates for meant I could work less and spend more time doing my honours,” she said.
“Now, when I do get to work Saturdays, it’s a nice supplement to my apprentice’s wages.”
Also detailed in the Productivity Commission report was a proposal to allow employees to take public holidays at a different time with full penalty rates and negotiate for longer annual leave in lieu of pay rises under proposed changes to Australia's workplace relations framework.
Mr Ciancio’s daughter, Maria Krelle, said public holidays were particularly difficult in the hospitality industry.
She said Easter this year was particularly difficult, after Victoria made Easter Sunday a public holiday, in addition to Friday, Saturday and Monday.
“In the end it was a bit of a community service… it didn’t make sense economically, ” Ms Krelle said.
“Next year, if it stays the same, we won’t open over Easter – we’d be better of spending time with the family.”