The reality facing small to medium sized retailers is that they're now up against the 24/7 big business juggernaut more than ever before. The likes of convenience stores, restaurants and café shops have to open their doors on Sundays to stay in business and remain viable.
But for the owners of them the Catch 22 is that they also need to be able to afford to pay their workers, whether they have a good day or bad day at the till, and yes most would have their 'bad days'.
The Productivity Commission's report which advocates for Sunday penalty rates for hospitality and retail workers be reduced to fall into line with the Saturday penalty rate scale is a rational and reasonable compromise.
One which aims to make small business in these sectors more competitive and viable while still acknowledging the sacrifice workers make by giving up their Sunday. A day which, even if the trend of society is to make it 'just another day', remains the best one for people to spend quality time with their family and friends.
The productivity report is not 'Workchoices Mark 2', it's not a slash and burn attack on weekend penalty rates, despite trade union propaganda which suggests and conveys otherwise.
Across all sectors, and including retail and hospitality, it simply advocates for greater flexibility and negotiability between employers and employees for them to be able to reach a pay agreement which is both affordable to the boss and fair to the worker.
The addition of 'enterprise contracts', which the Productivity Commission is recommending, which is a bit dodgy, could be seen as an attempt to revive enterprise bargaining agreements which were a central plank of Workchoices's ruthless pro-abolition of penalty rates objective.
EBA's under Workchoices were never a fair substitute for penalty rates, even at the lower end of the scale. The Productivity Commission needs to tread real carefully there.
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