Home topics news News News ‘Unions not penalty rates’ hit workers Gali Blacher August 14, 2018 Workers are losing extra pay on weekends and public holidays because of deals between unions and businesses not because of cuts to penalty rates, the Turnbull government says. Government MPs aren’t backing a private member’s bill by Labor leader Bill Shorten to restore penalty rates for 700,000 workers, with Liberal Craig Kelly saying the bargaining agreements put large unionised workforces at an advantage over smaller organisations. “It has nothing to do with penalty rates, it is about more union control, more union dominance across the workforce,” Kelly told the lower house on Monday. Managing Director, McDonald Murholme, Alan McDonald said, “The cuts in penalty rates are the prime cause for employees losing pay not the deals between the unions and businesses.” “The deals between businesses and unions are done because union influence in the private sector has declined for the following three reasons since Bob Hawke sided with the airlines against pilots in 1989, a pivotal point in changing the balance,” he said. “As an aside however, it can be inferred that there is no benefit for the unions in having private sector employees in the hospitality industry paid penalty rates at weekends if it results in higher costs of food and hospitality to them. The key unions in health, education and government have no vested interest in the rights of employees in the hospitality sectors.” The Fair Work Commission cut Sunday penalty rates