Unfortunately, as we approach Christmas there are two serious challenges our members face:
There is an attack on penalty rates of workers in the retail, fast food and hospitality industries. New Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has joined in this attack on penalty rates.
There are proposals being floated to extend the goods and services tax to food, health and education and increase it across the board from 10% to 15%.
Both of these proposals would be disastrous for our members. They would hit the wages of low-income workers much harder than high-income workers.
The SDA is opposed to both of these proposals which attack the living standards of our members.
Penalty rates have been paid to workers as compensation for working unsociable hours for decades. But now they are under threat from the Federal Government.
Business lobby groups have been pushing for a cut to penalty rates for years.
The Victorian SDA Young Workmate of the Year winner was recently announced.
The Young Workmate of the Year Award celebrates hard-working, dedicated, reliable younger workers in the workplace. It is open to all young workers 25 years of age and under who work in a range of industries covered by the SDA, including retail, fast-food and warehousing.
I have been working as a lawyer in the will disputes and estate administration area for 20 years. I originally started drafting wills, and quickly realised that there were many people who were upset by the way they had been treated in a will.
The common theme was the failure of a parent or a partner to make proper provision for family members, often without good reason. I found myself able to help protect the rights of these disappointed people.
