Mulling over George Pope to Steve Asher 14 Jan 2003

Hi George!

 SA> Yep, as far as I know, there are no "bag your own"
supermarkets here,
 SA> but they will come, & people will need to be
"educated" in how to
 SA> use them, register to have their biometrics recorded to use in them,
 SA> etc etc.

 GP> in Oz, right?

 GP> It's coming -- you guys always copy everything else the Yank
 GP> capitalists come up with, right after we(Canada) do! :P

It isn't just Yank capitalists... it is every organisation that feels
the need to profile its customers & build up data on them. (:P noted)

 SA> I don't know that normal time pays all that well here, but they do get
 SA> "penalty rates" for nights, weekends, public holidays.
Naturally, the

 GP> What's "penalty rates"? Is that a union negotiation, or is it a
 GP> legal thing?

It is a bit of both. As best as I can explain it, time worked from (say)
7 am to 6 pm is paid at single time - eg $10 per hour. Time from 6 pm to
(say) 11 pm is paid at a penalty rate of "time and a half" - ie $15 per
hour. Time on Sundays might be paid at a penalty rate of "double time"
- ie $20 per hour, & time on public holidays (Christmas day, Good Friday
etc) might be at double time and a half ($25 per hour).

That is fictitious example, as each industry or work place will have
their own agreed or "award" conditions. "Award" is what
is awarded by
the Arbitration Commission, a sort of industrial court.

In other words, someone working nights & weekends, will get quite a 
good wage compared to someone working nine to five Monday to Friday,
but this is to compensate them for the disruption to social life,
sleep etc that goes with it.

 SA> large chains are pressuring for unrestricted trading hours, along 
 SA> with

 GP> Why are they restricted anyway?  Are you in a formerly
 GP> high-religion region? :P

Not particularly - however weekends are the time that people go to
church, attend sporting fixtures, travel to the country & interstate
etc, and these times are fairly jealously guarded, but as times
change there is increasing pressure for shops to open for extended
hours. Currently, suburban shops can trade late on Thursdays, city
shops (downtown) trade late on Fridays, all can trade on Saturdays,
& city shops can trade on Sundays. The large suburban malls are
generally closed on Sundays, except for the month before Christmas,
when they can open. It is fairly complex.

 GP> (the area I grew up in had a no-Sunday-shopping byelaw, but it
 GP> finally got blasted out when NOBODY obeyed it!) :P

That is gradually happening here, and successive governments have
tackled trading hours, and never come up with a result that every
one is happy with. I doubt they ever will!

 GP> What a mess! I just don't understand how we, who supposedly, in
 GP> Canada, have no government interference in religion rules/rights,
 GP> can have such a blatantly Xian_Church-biased law even MADE!!! :P

If it started out as a religious thing here, it is now largely a
case of small traders & employees wanting a day where they are not
pressured into opening, while the larger supermarket chains &
mall owners want 7 day trading. They are the ones with the clout.

Cheers, Steve..

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