Last week saw the release of the ANROWS Report, “Just another day in retail”, which is a difficult but important read in understanding the significant challenges of sexual harassment within a retail setting.
The report prompts us as leaders to confront some uncomfortable truths within our society and indeed our industry.
The ARA worked with the authors in recent months to understand the report’s recommendations and release the findings. I encourage you to read the report and the ARA’s response. The ARA has partnered with the Australian Human Rights Commission to launch the Understanding and addressing work-related sexual harassment in retail and hospitality course to help retailers better address these issues.
On Thursday, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) launched a bid with the Fair Work Commission to abolish junior rates for workers aged between 18-20 years of age.
Disappointingly, the case has been rushed through without industry consultation and the ARA has raised concerns about the impact this may have on junior employment. We will keep members abreast of developments in this space.
In political news, the Tasmanian Government has announced it will introduce new legislation to implement tougher penalties for people who assault frontline staff, including retail workers. This leaves Queensland and the ACT as the only remaining jurisdictions yet to step up legislation since the ARA commenced advocating with the SDA for this change.
Whilst we commend this strong first step in protecting frontline workers, we have raised concerns that more is needed to protect retail workers from abuse and violence that doesn’t cause serious physical harm.
And finally, the Queensland Budget was handed down yesterday, with a focus on a raft of measures to ease cost-of-living challenges. We have welcomed those measures but again highlighted the absence of substantial relief for small business in this very tough economic landscape.
