Market forces as a much younger man I worked in QLD.
Casual barman part time cane cutter cutting the corners the machines could not get.
Picked tomatoes in Bundaberg and pickles for Sydney too.
Drove cane trucks after shifts driving cane locomotives.
I worked from a base at a mill known as Gin Gin
West Australian Iron ore rail was starting.
A recruiter came offering very big wages and retraining to engine drivers for that line.
two mates went,converting from our small engine's and made a killing,on offered wages.
Today, head hunters offer those extreme wages even to carpenters.
AND IN DOING SO CLEARLY MAKE UNIONS unneeded, do not blame unions for high wages, let truth shine in.
Two speed economy see,s wages rise very fast in one area not others.
Rechtub truly doubt it is illegal have what in a cafés is a weekend menu.
Priced up.
I Agree you should be able to try to cover your costs.
BUT MATE face your market forces, if I walked past your shops and saw snags at higher price I would walk past.
Offer me a deal in say ten kg,s I would wander home and freeze them then do the same next week.
I buy still in bulk.
Governments consumers unions workers do not have the steering wheel in their hands you do.

Pericles,nice to see some real debate.

You see, if as you say, business was to 'drop off' on these days, then perhaps we could go back to the good old days where the shops shut at noon Saturday.

Just think, even those in retail could spend time with their families. You see, the family time that so many here are protecting, comes at the price of those forced to work these days and go without their quality time.

Another point of interest is that most who oppose a surcharge, yet, by their very own admission, state that mon to fri prices are 'loaded' to compensate for weekend prices. (additional wages already built in) Do you really think that's right?

Now as for accountability, well we business people have to keep very accurate records for SEVEN YEARS. That means every till tape, every wage slip, every invoice.

Otokonoko,You say 'they are laws'.

Yes, they are laws, but they didn't exist until labor gained power.

A huge point of interest is that during our darkest hour (GFC), labor made employing harder, rather than easier. Go figure!

Belly. I appreciate your acceptance of surcharges in other states. I am just wanting the same here. That's all. Everyone wins.

Remember, the diff between 1.5 rates and double time is 33.3%. That's a huge increase to be built in during the week.

Now I saw markets down the waterfront yesterday. There were hundreds of stalls.

Do you really think they all paid the triple time rates?

If they did, how can they sell so cheaply?

Now as for unions, well my friend, you had best open your eyes. They are turning back the clock.

Patricks are under constant threat of strike.

These workers work 4 on 4 off and are on $120K per Annum

That works out to less than 29 hours per week for $2308.

Put that into prospective, it means they are on 2.4 times the average wage AND STILL NOT HAPPY!

Please don't tell me the unions have gone soft.

It's interesting that rehctub avoids mention of clauses in shopping mall leases that require businesses to trade when centres are open, since that's his real 'beef', so to speak. If these provisions were simply removed, then he and other tightwad employers could just close for the weekend and everybody would be happy.

Rechtub the towns I talk of have 2, 5, to ten, thousand people, the markets in villages.
Not employees just family's.
You do,, truly, lack the understanding to be so critical.
Penalty rates came in a very long time ago show me one
just one
person who gets triple time, be sure they do,I in my time never met one who did.
And you never paid it in your life.
rosters, if you want a weekend off get a roster in place trust some one to fill in for you.
yes I agree with the extra charge always did but it need not be mandatory just do it mate.
but do not compel the bloke down the road to do it too he should be free to run his business as he wants to.
Tomorrow, after the markets I will sit down have a coffee and something light pay about $5 more for it, but enjoy and not be upset by it.

>>Tomorrow, after the markets I will sit down have a coffee and something light pay about $5 more for it, but enjoy and not be upset by it.

And that's all I am asking for belly. Nothing more.

Unfortunately, surcharges are iligal here in QLD, which by the way is the whole problem.

Decent people have no problem paying them as the appreciate the fact that it costs more to produce the item on these days, it's just that our QLD gov have other ideas. You see wages are federal, surcharges are a state issue.

Now another doozy with FWA is that even family are not exempt from these laws. So, should there be a 'fall out' between family members, these laws can cause grief.

morganzola
If only life was that simple.

You see small retailers are fighting for what little is left after the 'giants' take their market share, currently around 85%.

So the simply 'close' on these days may well mean total closure for many.

There is a submission to FWA by the hospitallity industry and I can almost assure you that if they don't get cut some slack then you will see many fail as most are on the edge. A surcharge will fix most of thier problems and everyone will win.

That entire industry is appearing to be in 'boom times', but the reality is it is mostly driven by TV shows.

Also, with the likes of butchers, we take kids and train them in 'real butchery skills' ensuring the industry will survive.

99 out of 100 apprentices from super markets are usually duds, through no fault of their own.

My apprentice took less than three years to complete his time and is now capable of almost running the shop, all becuase he has received top line training.

These skills will be lost if small shops close, as small shops do just about everything, compared to super markets which do very little with regards to 'real butchery'.

Yabby, as usual you proffer the most extreme and un representative of examples, such as your “on $300k but demanding $400k” scenario. The market segments you example turn over thousands of BILLIONS annually but you express some labour cost that represents a bucketful of water in comparison to the tailings dam of returns. Supply us with the net Labour costs as against turnover and the labour costs falls into insignificance against the other fixed costs involved in the business, and to nothing when the ROI is recorded.

Yabby your inherent greed sees you seeking a way that the minerals might dig themselves out of the ground, process themselves and then ship themselves OS for processing by humans that you pay subsistence wages to