It’s hard work and long hours being a cafe owner. We make a very modest income, and if we’re being brutally honest, currently no income. We live week to week and regularly have to dip into our savings to pay our bills.
But it is not up to us as cafe owners to determine who should and shouldn’t be paid correctly. We aren’t above the law. There is no excuse for wage theft, but it is rife. Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James recently said in an interview on ABC radio that hospitality workers account for 7.2% of the work force but account for 39% of anonymous tip offs and 17% of dispute forms. Those numbers in themselves are staggering, but that’s just the workers who have been brave enough to stand up to their employers.
In reality the number of staff being exploited is much higher. Whenever we hire new staff we ask them what their previously employer was paying them. Not one person in the four years that we have been open has previously been paid the award rate. On a public holiday when we go to grab a coffee at other cafes we always ask the staff if they are being paid penalty rates. Most of the time the answer is “no”, and often staff don’t even know what they are entitled to. Some employers use “we didn’t know what the award rate was” excuse. But that’s ridiculous. It is so easy to find out what award rate you should be paying. All you need to do is call FairWork or, as we do often do, use the FairWork pay calculator online.
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The exploitation makes for an unfair playing field. It makes customers think we are charging too much when we are simply charging what we need to ensure that our staff are paid and our kids are fed. We aren’t living like kings. We aren’t able to open multiple cafes (although we would love to), or drive around in luxury cars, fly business class or any of the other things certain cafe operators have all over their Instagram accounts.
All you have to do it look at ratemyboss.org.au to look at how little some of our competitors are paying their staff. How can we compete with those paying a flat $18-$20p/h cash? On top of the (casual) $24.41p/h weekday and $29.30p/h weekends we pay, there’s also the additional super, WorkCover and PAYG tax we pay. We can’t afford to open on public holidays.
The Fair Work Ombudsman should be taking a more frontline approach from the outset if there is to be change. If an employee stole daily from their employer, adding up to hundreds or thousands of dollars, they would be arrested and charged. How is wage theft not the same? In some instances the problem also comes back to the employees. We have had staff leave and work down the road because we won’t pay cash and they want to claim additional Centrelink benefits. You can’t have it both ways.
It’s not just just the employers, employees, the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Tax Office that need to be made accountable. Customers, food bloggers and social media influencers have a role as well. Before writing a story about the new cafe that has opened or “influencing” social media followers by posting a photo of your food on Instagram, find out if that business is paying their staff correctly.
Fines are minimal compared to the “benefits” to those underpaying and the Ombudsman doesn’t seem to have the ability to enforce or catch up with the huge numbers of operators doing the wrong thing. The first thing the Ombudsman recommends is for the employee and employer to “work out the issues between yourselves before making a formal request for help”. We’ve been encouraging our staff to chase up unpaid wages, but faced with the prospect of personally holding their previous employer to account and fear of the reaction and consequences of doing so, many just won’t do it.
Ultimately, it’s time to name and shame.