If you have a successful business, do you think you could have achieved success without the employees.
Success in tourism is the quality and efficientcy of the frontline staff, without them the customer does not return.
www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you 20120115-1q1be.html

*If an employer wants staff to work unsociable hours then they should pay penalty rates.*

Surely Phil, that should be up to the employer and employee to
decide. Not everyone insists on working office hours.

What if employees and employers are quite happy with a 150% rate
for public holidays? Why enforce 250%? At that rate, with today's
low margins and competitive business environment, a great many
businesses would be running at a loss.

Employees have a choice. Take on a different job, learn a different
skill. What is this hoohah that employees should be mollycoddled
and employers should face open competition?

Running a small business is commonly far more stressfull and difficult
then taken on a job.

Speaking as a former small business operator, one can say good reliable staff are the very life blood of a successful business. Simply screwing your own employees; to add a cent or two to the bottom line is arguably self defeating, with staff taking little interest in you or how well your business prospers?
It's the same mentality that sees the answer to any business downturn as imposed higher margins; and then a lot of frustrated head scratching, as the customer base drifts away; to a more competently run opposition, who understands that volume is the answer, not higher margins!
That said, I waited tables as a very young man; and gave my customers the very best service I was able. When offered mere coinage as a tip I simply turned my back in disdain; loudly proclaiming, I was already being adequately rewarded for my services.
Almost inevitably the evening ended as I helped mine host and his or her escort with his/her overcoat etc, with a large denomination note being proffered, which I invariably accepted with a, oh your much too kind sir/madam, thank you!
I can honestly say I made more in tips than I ever took home in wages. Something to think about for those employed in the hospitality industry?

Interesting view, but no idea of how the real world works.

This industry has to be casualized for many reasons. Rain, floods, power outages, sporting events, the list goes on.

Many of these venues take bookings and, if the numbers are Dow, how on earth can they be expected to hire a full crew.

Coffee.
The real price for coffee should be around the $7.00 mark, considering it was about $2.70 in 1985.

GST.
This kills this industry, as, like many other businesses, who can quote a price, then add GST, this industry can't. Why? Because it would make governments look bad.

A typical rest today has rent and expenses, about 20%, food cost, 28%, wages about 35% and GST 11%.

Add these up and that leaves about 6%, and that's assuming they have zero waste.

Now when you add an additional 35 to 50% for wages, as penalty rates, the end result is no business.

This is an industry that if fed by reality TV shows, as everyone wants to have their own rest/cafe.

They take all day to prepare a meal for 5, yet, they have to be able to prepare meals for 100, in about a three hour window.

There is a solution to all this, and that's to allow a surcharge on weekends and holidays, but in QLD at least, that is illegal.

Of cause the government just says to have a second or even a third menu, yeh right, at $5,000. Pop.

The solution to the high penalty rates in the award system is simple. Keep importing Chinese and Indians to replace Australians in this industry.

The Chinese and Indians will continue to import their workers from China and India, and God knows what they are paying them. Two sets of accounting books are easy to keep. That Chinese and Indian workers are being underpaid and exploited can easily be deduced by the number of incidents involving Chinese and Indian workers, where immigration officials have found blatently illegal practices.

How about the Chinese construction worker who was seriously injured at work in Sydney, and was sent to hospital in an ambulance? His Kongsi henchmen simply marched into the hospital, dragged him out of bed, marched him to the airport, and put him on Cathay Pacific flight while he was still in his hospital pyjamas. Problem solved. Who needs workers comp. insurance? No wonder the Chinese do so well in business in Australia.

Or the Indian workers, imported from India, found to be working 7 days a week, and living in shipping containers, on one Indian building site in Parramatta?

No wonder both Liberals and Labor support immigration. The Liberal Party gets to destroy the award system, and the Labor Party gets to import its future voters. The only victim is the Australian worker, and who cares about them?

Lego, the Australian worker has made that rod for their own backs.

Few can deny that our lifestyles today are far more extravagant than they were 40 years ago.

We all have mobile phones, most have plasmas, several in fact, computers, the list goes on.

Well, these all generate costs that were simply no existent 30 to 40 years ago and, as these contribute to our cost of living, wages have been increased to meet at least some of these costs.

You see, businesses expect a return on their investment, and rightly so.

Assuming you were offered a new job, which meant that you needed to pay say $80 per week for parking and use an additional $50 per week in fuel. That's an extra $130 out of your pocket.

Now would you take that new job, if it were identical, but only paid you the extra $130 per week, involved the extra travel etc.

Well of cause not, so why should a business do the same.

Is it unreasonable that if a business pays an extra $500 per week in wages, that the owner should at least get extra for themselves.

Well, this is the problem.

Most people forget the one basic rule, wages come from profits, nothing else!

No extra profits, no extra wages.

Now how is that unfair?

The fact of the matter is, we want a 7 day lifestyle, but don't want to pay for it.

The result will be the closure of many cafe/rests if the laws don't change.

The average punter assumes that just because a cafe is open, it makes money.

The reality is that most have a lease and may loose their homes if they walk.