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IN PHOTO: Mellisa Lange (R), a hospitality assistant from Adelaide, carries dinner entrees from one of five kitchens on the outback Australian train known as the Ghan, on its inaugural journey in Australia's Northern Territory on February 2, 2004. The train runs 2,979 kilometres (approx 1860 miles) to Darwin from Adelaide and is named after Afghan camel drivers who used their animals to carry goods over a similar route more than 150 years ago. BLIFE REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

The draft recommendations submitted by the Productivity Commission to the Federal Government is likely to bring down Sunday’s penalty rates for workers in the entertainment and hospitality industry to the Saturday’s rates. It also suggested in its recommendations that the employers should not be required by the state governments to pay penalty on any new public holidays that would be created in the future.

Sunday penalty rates currently stands at 200 percent of the pay rate on weekdays, whereas the penalty rate for Saturday remains between 125 percent and 150 percent. Harris, however, admitted that if the changes are implemented, it could result in the pay cut of many workers. “There will be people who will be exposed — if they maintain their employment in these industries — to having a lesser level of pay on Sundays,’’ he said. “There may be more hours offered by employers. We expect to see services go up."

Dave Oliver, secretary of Australian Council of Trade Unions, also said that equalising the Sunday and Saturday rates would lead to reduction in the pay of thousands of Australians working in the specified industries. He said that the Unions would oppose any move to cut penalty rates or the minimum wage and rights at work.

The Guardian quoted a portion of the report that reads, “Sunday penalty rates that are not part of overtime or shift work should be set at Saturday rates for the hospitality, entertainment, retail, restaurants and cafe industries. Weekend penalty rates should be set to achieve greater consistency between the hospitality, entertainment, retail, restaurants and cafe industries, but without the expectation of a single rate across all of them.”

The Productivity Commission has also proposed the eradication of the unfair dismissal laws that required the companies to pay compensation to the employees who have been terminated for misbehaviour or misdemeanour. News.com.au quoted Peter Harris, the Chairman of Productivity Commission, as saying that the equalisation of penalty rates on weekends would not only help in creating new jobs but at the same time would benefit both the consumer and the employer in various other ways.

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