Owners of Hunt and Gather Fine Foods in Kinghorne Street, siblings Alana and Heydn Tomasetti, have grown up in the hospitality industry and want penalty rates to stay as they are.

They will be opening their cafe on Easter Saturday but not Sunday.

Ms Tomasetti said she saw the issue from the point of view of a business owner as well as an employee.

“I’ve worked long weekends and the workload doubles or triples, but cafes don’t tend to double or triple their staff on those days,” she said.

“I also know my wage is around $10 more per hour working on a Sunday.”

She said she would prefer to see cafes and restaurants use a menu that incorporates a surcharge, rather than reducing penalty rates.

She also doubted the extra money a business owner would pocket from a cut in penalty rates would be invested in more staff.

The campaign to reduce penalty rates has gained momentum on the back of a recent agreement in South Australia offering workers a guaranteed 3 per cent annual pay rise.

In exchange penalty rates after 6pm and on Saturday would be cut from 25 per cent to nil, Sunday rates would come down from a 100 per cent loading to 50 per cent, and public holiday rates would come down from 150 per cent to 100 per cent.

The owner of Cafe Aroney in Nowra, Louise Collings, also took the view it was unlikely extra money would be spent on employees.

“I’ve been in small business since 1989 and in my experience cutting rates of pay results in businesses taking more profits,” she said.

Ms Collings thought business owners would need to be forced by legislation to use that extra profit to employ more staff.

“People are greedy. I don’t think getting rid of or reducing penalty rates will result in more people being employed,” she said.

“I’m old-school. About 30 years ago when I started you got paid all the different shift allowances for working weekends. 

“Weekends are not the same as any other day of the week. If you have children or go to church, that is the time for those things.

“Family values are being broken down,” she said.

“I don’t open public holidays and weekends because I have children and want to spend time with them.”

Shoalhaven Business Chamber president Nicole Francis has had feedback from local businesses calling for a reduction in but not an abolishment of penalty rates.

The chamber is offering posters for businesses who support a reduction in penalty rates.

Ms Francis said Shoalhaven businesses owners were telling her the penalty rate affects how many staff they can roster on.

She uses the example where if a cafe can’t afford to employ enough staff on a weekend or public holiday, the businesses performance would suffer on that day.

“Being understaffed can hamper performance and then revenue and that can flow on to a customer having a bad experience, which could result in losing return business,” she said.

“Most of what we hear is people are saying the rates are too high and it’s resulting in people not being able to afford to open on a Sunday.”

She said business owners were not pushing for total removal of the penalty rates but supported a reduction of them.

“There’s got to be some enticement for people to work on weekends.

“Scaling back the penalty rates may help businesses put more staff on which will boost cash flow going through the CBD,” she said.

When the issues was raised last year, South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said he would like to see members of parliament and overpaid corporate bosses take a pay cut before suggesting weekend penalty rates should be scrapped.

“When politicians agree to cut their wages and when executives agree to cap their exorbitant salaries, then they can come to us about reducing or addressing the issue of workers’ wages,” Mr Rorris said.