The recent Fair Work Commission decision to cut penalty rates for workers in the retail and hospitality sectors raises serious questions about the future of work and our priorities around protecting the wages some of our lowest income earners. 

This week on Women on the Line we discuss the penalty rates decision and its impact on women who will be affected. First we’ll speak with Lisa Heap, Women’s Lead Organiser at the Victorian Trades Hall Council, and then we’ll hear from Sara Charlesworth, Professor in the School of Management at RMIT University and who gave expert evidence in the penalty rates case that went before the Fair Work Commission.