The National Retail Association (NRA) has criticised Labor’s private members bill to block the Fair Work Commission’s reduction in Sunday penalty rates.
The cuts to Sunday rates were announced last month and the issue has been fiercely debated since.
NRA CEO Dominique Lamb said that leveraging political interests to undermine the independence of the industrial relations system should sound alarm bells for everyone, regardless of their stance on penalty rates.
“The Commission was created by the Labor Party so that the industrial relations system would be fair, equitable, and free from political interest,” Ms Lamb said. “And yet, it’s now shaping up to be an election issue, amid a worrying campaign designed to undermine the FWC’s purpose and due process, not to mention the three years of submissions, hearings and deliberations it took to come to this decision.”
The NRA also highlighted that reductions to Sunday penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sector are an important step toward addressing underemployment.
