Wage Growth

Under the Albanese Labor Government, wages are growing for the first time in a decade.

Under 9 years of Liberal-led governments, real wages stagnated and Australia experienced record low wage growth.

Since the Labor Party formed government in 2022, they have stood side by side with the union movement and advocated for real pay rises each year.

In the past three years, the weekly pay of a Level 1 full-time retail worker has increased by over $125. That equals over $6,500 more a year.
Even with wage growth starting to move again, the cost of living continues to cause financial stress for SDA members and their families.

That’s why it’s critical for wages to continue to trend upwards and not fall behind again.

Penalty Rates

The Federal Labor Government has announced they will introduce legislation to protect your penalty rates.  

It means if Labor is re-elected, the penalty rates of retail, fast food and millions of other workers will be protected from attempts to reduce them.

Peter Dutton has voted eight times to cut penalty rates. He also has not opposed the Australian Retailers Association’s attempts to remove penalty rates for salaried workers.

Casual Rights

Casual workers now have a genuine pathway to permanent employment after 6 months of regular work- thanks to unions and the Labor Government.

These laws were fought for and won by unions to give you more opportunity to become permanent and have more stability and security in your hours and pay. If elected, the Liberal Party has said they’ll reverse these improvements.

Retail Workplace Rights

The SDA has been in the Fair Work Commission fighting attacks on retail workers’ rights.

The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) on behalf of major employers have lodged a submission at the Fair Work Commission to change the General Retail Industry Award  and reduce rights including:

• Attack on rest break rights
• Removing penalty rates, overtime, leave loading and allowances for salaried workers in exchange for a flat rate – putting penalty rates at risk for all retail workers
• Reduced rostering rights and protections
• Removing rights for a meaningful break between shifts

Where do the major parties stand on this?

The Federal Labor Government has opposed this proposal and urged that penalty rates and wages must be protected.

The Labor Government filed a submission to the Fair Work Commission in February this year calling for the proposal to be rejected.

The Liberal Party has not committed to protecting your rights at work.  

They are unlikely to oppose the reduction of workplace rights sought by the retail lobby group and have stated they will wind back several of the improved workplace rights put in place by the current government.

Same Job, Same Pay

The Labor Government has introduced “same job, same pay” laws to lift labour hire workers’ pay.

These laws have enabled unions to apply to stop employers from paying labour hire workforce substantially less than the direct workers.

The SDA has successfully used these laws to win equal pay and a 20% wage increase for hundreds of workers at Metcash in South Australia.

Bargaining rights

The Albanese Government’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation has made bargaining fairer, simpler and more accessible for workers.

This legislation has: 

• Given unions the power to initiate bargaining with employers on expired agreements
• Stopped employers from being able to refuse to bargain if they have an expired agreement
• Terminated all “Zombie” agreements which were negotiated before 2010 and left workers worse off
• Allowed the SDA to seek to pursue a supported bargaining application at McDonald’s franchisees in SA

The SDA has negotiated over 30 new Enterprise Agreements including at Coles, Woolworths, Kmart and Bunnings as a result of this legislation.

Many Australian workers have benefited from the bargaining reforms introduced by the Albanese Government.

They are earning more, they have more flexibility, more security in their jobs and hours and have more power at the bargaining table.