IF you are a Coles employee your wage could be about 10 to 20 per cent lower under a newly proposed employment agreement.
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The ABC yesterday reported the agreement was negotiated between Coles, the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and other unions.
It trades weekend and night penalty rates for a higher hourly base rate for supermarket workers.
Brisbane Coles worker Duncan Hart lodged an appeal with the Fair Work Commission to get the approval reconsidered.
"I thought it was absolutely outrageous. I found it mind-boggling that so many workers would be worse off compared to the base local minimum," Mr Hart told the ABC.
"For me personally it means $60 less a week. To give people a sense, it's about 20 per cent cut to what I'd be earning under the award compared to agreement.”
Earlier this year Fairfax Media revealed the SDA pays Coles and Woolworths up to $5 million a year in ‘administrative costs’ to deduct union dues from employees' pay packets.
A hearing will be held next week to decide whether Mr Hart should be given leave to appeal the decision.
This story first appeared in the Great Lakes Advocate.
