Penalty rates rollback could swing federal election

Hours before her two children get up for school, single mother Sharon Eurlings rises at 3am to get to her job an hour later.

She works from 4am until midday, five days a week including Saturday and Sundays, for the penalty rates she can get to boost a modest pay packet.

Her mother travels from Belrose to her home in Burwood by 3am to look after the children and get them to school before going to her own job.

Ms Eurlings says she loves her job at the Sydney casino, where she has worked for 20 years, but is worried that a Productivity Commission report released this week will lead to a reduction in the Sunday penalty rates she has come to rely on as part of her weekly wage.

"I do the shifts for the children. The penalty rates are very important for us," she said.

Saturdays and Sundays are also important time with the family, and she misses seeing the children's weekend sport.

Maria Versace, a restaurant worker from Geelong in Victoria, says she has also relied on penalty rates to help raise her family.

She is among workers in regional Australia who would collectively lose between $370 million to $691 million a year if penalty rates were cut, according to research by the McKell Institute, a progressive policy research organisation.

The new research, commissioned by two unions – United Voice and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association – shows that any cut in penalty rates would reduce disposable income in regional areas by up to $748.3 million a year.

The national secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Gerard Dwyer, said the retail and hospitality sectors account for about 20 per cent of the workforce in rural Australia.

"Any move to scrap penalty rates would have a disproportionate impact on our rural communities," he said.

The national president of United Voice, Jo-anne Schofield, said "any cut to penalty rates will deepen the divide between the city and the bush, the haves and the have-nots".

A survey by Deloitte Access Economics has challenged the notion that Sunday is still considered a special day of significance.

The survey found 55 per cent of respondents said Saturday and Sunday were equally important and 31 per cent said Sunday was more important.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer Kate Carnell has welcomed the review of Sunday penalty rates.

She said the retail sector had "changed fundamentally over the last 20 years in terms of Sunday openings".

"This will have a substantial impact on [creating more] jobs, particularly for young people," she said.