Most people can easily see what the SDA has achieved together with our members. After all, the SDA helps out thousands of members each year assisting in recovering back pay, resolving rostering issues, helping people through workers’ compensation claims – and much more.
Most SDA members have been directly assisted by the SDA – or one day will be.
But for those who haven’t yet been directly assisted by the SDA, it doesn’t mean we haven’t been making a difference to their working lives.
EBA Negotiation
The SDA is consistently working behind the scenes to ensure you are fairly compensated and working under good conditions.
One of the ways we achieve this is through Enterprise Agreement Negotiations.
The SDA negotiates with hundreds of retail and fast food outlets and DC’s to lock in pay and conditions above the minimum set out by the relevant Award and the National Employment Standards.
Just some of the conditions we have been able to achieve in these agreements include:
- above award pay;
- additional Annual Leave and RDO’s;
- paid Natural Disaster Leave, Blood Donor Leave, Defence Force Leave;
- longer breaks and flexibility with breaks;
- gift card bonuses;
- a four day work week;
- increased minimum contract hours for part time employees
Your agreement may not include all of these conditions – or may have even more benefits. But one thing is for sure, the SDA couldn’t negotiate these pay and conditions for you without your membership – and the more members we have, the better our bargaining position becomes!
CAMPAIGNS
The SDA advocates on your behalf to achieve a wide range of outcomes with the Fair Work Commission, federal and state governments, and your employer. In recent years, our campaigning has led to significant wins, including:
- Better Wages, You’re Worth it: Above CPI wage increases for award reliant employees: 5.75% in 2023 & 3.75% in 2024.
- Same Job, Same Pay: Agency employees must now be paid the same as direct hire employees. A same job, same pay order at Kmart DC resulted in an $8-$13 pay increase for some team members.
- No One Deserves a Serve: won tougher penalties for offenders of customer violence in Queensland, and many major brands now displaying ‘zero tolerance of customer abuse and violence’ messaging.
- Super on Every Dollar: Superannuation to increase to 12% on 1 July 2025 & superannuation on Government paid Parental Leave.
- Secure jobs, worth fighting for: ‘Pathway to permanency’ to help casual employees gain permanent employment.
- Protect Penalty Rates: The Federal Government has now committed to legislate to protect penalty rates, so they can’t be abolished.
- Public Holidays: Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve (after 6pm) are now public holidays in Queensland.
Just some of the issues we are still campaigning on include:
- Adult Age = Adult Wage: The SDA has lodged a case in the Fair Work Commission to abolish junior rates of pay for workers aged 18 years and older. The case is also seeking to lift the rates of pay for most workers under the age of 18.
- Super On Every Dollar: Campaigning for under 18’s to be paid super on every dollar earned. Currently under 18’s are only eligible for super if they work over 30 hours a week.
- No One Deserves a Serve: Lobbying the state government to review knife packaging laws, to make workplaces safer.
- Protect Young Workers: The SDA is lobbying the government to ensure retail and fast-food workers have ‘working with children’ checks before they can work with under 18’s.
- Under Pressure: addressing psychosocial hazards in the workplace due to understaffing.
DEFENDING YOUR RIGHTS
Employers and Employer Associations consistently launch attacks on workers rights to try and reduce your pay and conditions.
Recently, big retail businesses have backed in an attack by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) to cut key minimum employment rights for retail workers including evening and weekend penalty rates, overtime, rostering rights and rest breaks.
If the attack is successful, it will not only potentially reduce the take home pay of tens of thousands of hard-working retail managers, putting further pressure on salaries but it will strip away the right to 10-minute paid rest pauses and rip away rostering rights for all retail workers. All retail workers could be left worse off.
This isn’t the first attack on workers’ rights and it won’t be the last – the SDA will always be on hand to oppose any application that would be a detriment to retail, warehouse or fast food workers.
UNION ACHIEVEMENTS
Many people don’t realise that some of the conditions they’ve always had weren’t simply handed to them — they were hard-won by the union movement. These include:
- Guaranteed minimum wage;
- Penalty rates;
- Paid Sick Leave;
- Paid Rest breaks;
- Annual Leave;
- Equal Pay for women;
- Maternity Leave;
- 38 hour week;
- Compulsory Superannuation; and
- Medicare.
The SDA didn’t just help win these conditions, we continue to defend them every time they’re under threat.
OTHER BENEFITS
The SDA also offers many other member exclusive benefits including but not limited to:
- FREE legal advice: for Industrial and Workers’ Compensation matters;
- SDA Members Area: where you can access information on your EBA, including your rates of pay, with just a click;
- $50,000 Accident Insurance policy: for any accidents that occur outside if work.
- Scholarships: for primary, secondary and tertiary students.
SO, WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED TOGETHER?
Whether it’s negotiating better pay and conditions, standing up to attacks on your rights, advocating for safer workplaces, or being there when you need support, the answer is a lot.
Even if you haven’t needed direct help yet, the SDA is always working in the background to improve your working life. And the more members we have, the stronger we are, and the more we can achieve together.
Because at the end of the day, every worker deserves respect, fair treatment, and a voice. That’s what the SDA is here for, and that’s what we’ll keep fighting for.
By Justin Power,
SDA Branch Secretary