By Patrick Avenell
SYDNEY, NSW: The latest round in the ongoing battle for reduced minimum shift times for casuals has begun, with Fair Work Australia (FWA) today allowing an appeal to its decision last week to grant a reduction on certain school children shift times to 1.5 hours.
The decision last week stated that school children could work shifts as short as 1.5 hours in retail outlets after school. The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) has appealed this decision, wanting to maintain the current 3-hour minimum.
The National Retail Association (NRA) has been leading the charge for this change, with the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) supporting the movement with press releases.
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SDA national secretary Joe de Bruyn told Current.com.au last week that he was confounded by the original decision and is hopeful of winning on appeal against the ARA and the NRA.
“What do I think of the two organisations (the NRA and ARA)? They’re both incompetent when it comes to running industrial cases. They’ve had a win in this latest case, but it comes against all the weight of evidence that was against them because their case was again hopeless,” said de Bruyn,
Click here to read Current.com.au’s special report on this FWA case.