WORKERS TAKE FIGHT AGAINST PENALTY RATE CUTS TO ADELAIDE OVAL CROWDS

15 July 2017

South Australian unions will today hand out tens of thousands of flyers at Adelaide Oval to spread the word about recent cuts to Sunday and public holiday penalty rates.

Sate Secretary, Joe Szakacs says hundreds of volunteers will be at the Oval to remind football fans that the Turnbull Government and key Federal crossbenchers support these cuts to peoples' take home pay.

"We want people to remember when they vote in the next Federal election that Malcolm Turnbull and his government did nothing to stop these cuts."

"Fifty thousand people fit into this stadium - and fourteen times more people have been hit by these penalty rates cuts."

More than 700,000 people who work in hospitality, fast food, retail and pharmacy on Sundays and public holidays receiving penalty rates had their pay cut on July 21st.

"There are footy fans who can't be here today because they are working and it is not just football they miss out on, but all kinds of other family and social events.  They deserve to be compensated for working weekends and public holidays."

Mr Szakacs says the cuts handed down by the Fair Work Commission earlier this year show that the system is broken if the body tasked with ensuring fairness in our industrial system will slash the pay of some of Australia's lowest paid workers.

"The Commission handed down the biggest wage cut Australia has every seen - of about $2,400 each year."

"Inequality is at a 70 year high and a whole generation of Australians don't know what it is like to have a paid sick day or a paid holiday."

"Working people just want fairness and all they have got is a Federal Liberal Government that backs big business and company profit."

"At a time when the Reserve Bank Governor is arguing that people should be paid more, not less, unions are ramping up their fight to protect and increase workers' wages."