Fair Work to review Hair and Beauty Penalty Rates

After cutting penalty rates for the retail, fast food, hospitality and pharmacy industries earlier this year, the Fair Work Commission has announced that penalty rates will also be reviewed for the hair and beauty industry.

HABA has said they intended to submit a proposal, and are looking to cut the Sunday penalty rates from 200% to 150%, and public holiday penalty rates from 250% to 225%.

;./lll
“HABA is seeking a modest reduction in penalty rates that broadly reflects what the commission has already determined to be a fair approach in the context of similar industries, such as the retail sector,” HABA president Maureen Harding said in a statement.

Hair stylist Liz Berry, a 14-year veteran of the industry, told ABC News that if the cuts go ahead, then she’ll lose her dream on owning a home. “Buying a house is out of the question as it is because the wages are so low,” she said.

“In 20 years’ time I could go ‘OK, we have enough to buy’, but if they cut the penalty rates, no.”

AWU National Secretary Dan Walton also spoke out against the suggested cuts. “It’s a shocking attack on some of the lowest paid trade workers in this country,” he told ABC.
“Hairdressers are extremely qualified, very capable people who are the lowest paid trade in comparison to electricians plumbers and the like.”

Read full story here, and check out our website to stay up to date with the latest news and info on HSA’s campaign to protect hair stylists’ penalty rates from any further cuts.