This Business Group Used International Women’s Day To Try And Justify Cuts To Penalty Rates

International Women’s Day is a good opportunity to reflect on the deep inequality that exists in our society. From the gender pay gap, to the struggles of low-paid childcare workers (who are overwhelmingly women) to the barriers many women around the world face in accessing healthcare and education.

It seems like an extremely odd occasion to spruik the recent cuts to Sunday penalty rates for retail and hospitality workers, but that’s exactly what one of the country’s largest business lobby groups did.

This afternoon the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represents businesses across the country, posted on Twitter arguing that “women stand to benefit from changes to penalty rates [because] underemployment disproportionately affects women”.

Women stand to benefit from changes to penalty rates. Underemployment disproportionately affects women. #BeBoldForChange pic.twitter.com/N7Hb5GhIbR

— Australian Chamber (@AusChamber) March 8, 2017

And just to really rub it in, the tweet included a personal message from the organisation’s CEO, James Pearson. Oh, and if that’s not enough they even used the official International Women’s Day hashtag #BeBoldForChange.

Yep, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry decided that International Women’s Day was the right moment to get their male CEO to deliver a message about why cutting wages for low-paid retail and hospitality would actually be good for women. Since a majority of workers in the affected industries are women, that seems highly unlikely.

Their argument rests on the idea that since businesses are paying people less in wages, due to the penalty rate cut, they will use that money to hire people to work extra hours. But the evidence is contested, and some analysis has shown that the main beneficiaries of the wage cuts will be company shareholders, not workers looking to pick up additional hours.

The internet was not very impressed with the organisation’s argument:

.@AusChamber unless this is intentional self-parody, you should strongly consider deleting your account

— Scott Ludlam (@SenatorLudlam) March 8, 2017

FFS. Delete your account @AusChamber

— Shane Bazzi (@shanebazzi) March 8, 2017

@AusChamber delete your account. Look at the % of women under 25 who work in retail. Penalty rates pay their bills while they study.

— Sarah Ruby (@SarahCielique) March 8, 2017

@AusChamber White Rich Man celebrates pay cuts that hurt low income earning women on #IWD2017 – proving why #IWD is a thing. Unbelievable.

— Emily Mayo (@emmaiyloy) March 8, 2017

In case you were wondering, here’s what the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s board looks like:

It’s good to know that if the board signed off on this bizarre strategy of using International Women’s Day, an event rooted in militant socialism, the discussion was amongst 10 blokes and two women.

The organisation clearly took the negative feedback on board and responded by posting this graph:

Underemployment disproportionately affects women. #BeBoldForChange pic.twitter.com/6o8SZQ6oFD

— Australian Chamber (@AusChamber) March 8, 2017

Which is a cool graph and all, but doesn’t in anyway support their argument that “women stand to benefit” from cuts to penalty rates.

Here’s a more relevant one:

Fifty eight percent of retail workers are women, and they all stand to lose money as a result of the cuts to penalty rates.

Look, it’s not that surprising the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports cutting penalty rates. They represent businesses, after all. But actually using International Women’s Day to try and argue that cutting the pay of workers in an industry dominated by women is going to benefit them?

Delete your account.