Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association

Youth Wages

Australia operates a system of youth wages where it is legal for workers under the age of 21 to be paid a percentage of the adult wage rate for their job.^[10] The SDA has campaigned and called for the abolition of junior wages for decades. ^[11]

In 2013 the SDA began an national campaign to end youth wages for workers aged 18 years of age and the retail industry.^[12] This commenced with a case at the Fair Work Commission to remove the ninety percent rate for 20 year olds in the retail award. The Fair Work Commission ruled in favour of the SDA's application in 2014 and the 20 year old rate began to be phased out in the retail award from 2015.^[13] The Australian Retailers Association apposed the move.^[14]

Customer Violence and Abuse

In 2017 the SDA launched a national public awareness campaign to combat what the union described as the growing problem of violence and abuse directed at retail workers by customers. A survey conducted by the union of 6,000 retail and fast food workers found that more than 85 per cent had experienced abuse from customers.^[15] Almost three quarters (74 percent) of respondents were women, and 65 percent of respondents worked in front end services (like cashiers and registers) and just over half (51 percent) of respondents said that no action was taken after they reported an incident.^[16]

Industrial approach

As a result of the SDA's coverage, the union claims it is moderate and responsible in its approach to industrial relations.

The SDA has come under criticism for its workplace agreements with major employers including Coles ^[17], Woolworths ^[18] and McDonald's ^[19] that have bargained for industry-wide conditions with a result of beneath-award pay outcomes for members^[20], as well as the use of membership funds in its opposition to key social reforms such as abortion^[21], IVF^[22], same-sex marriage^[23] and the payments of commission fees to employers in order to facilitate recruitment.^[24]

However, its close relationship with employers has provoked controversy. In 2016, the full bench of the Fair Work Commission found an SDA-negotiated workplace arrangement with supermarket chain Coles left significant numbers of Coles’ 77,000 workers underpaid^[25]. One witness claimed Coles was aware that more than half of the workers covered by the agreement were paid less than the minimum pay rates of the award^[26]. The SDA had almost identical agreements with other big employers.

The SDA’s bargaining strategy has led to hourly wage outcomes, employment security and collective bargaining benefits which, when measured against international standards, are very good. ^[27]

Other unions have argued SDA industry bargaining undercuts wages and conditions. In the past, the SDA has negotiated to cut penalty rates in exchange for higher hourly wages. Paul Conway, secretary of the Victorian branch of the AMIEU, has described the SDA’s tactics as that of "a tame cat”. National President Joe de Bruyn has defended the SDA's industrial record, claiming a "tenfold increase in the award rate for shop assistants and, pay increases above inflation, since the mid-1970"s.

Under an agreement struck between the ACTU and employers in 1971, the SDA paid commissions to employers, including Coles and Woolworths, as an administration charge for payroll deduction of union dues. The union defended that arrangements citing the importance of payroll deductions for members who work fluctuating hours.^[28]

Social positions

Historically, the SDA has taken socially conservative positions^[29] especially concerning issues like abortion,^[30] IVF, and same-sex marriage in Australia.^[31][32][33]

The SDA made a submission in 2005 to the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) opposing the provision of in vitro fertilisation and other assisted reproductive technologies to same sex couples.^[34]

While speaking on marriage during the 2007 Labor national conference the SDA's national secretary, Joe de Bruyn, and other members of the Labor Right, were heckled by delegates who supported same-sex marriage.^[35]

In the past, the SDA was also criticised for a disproportionate influence over the Australian Labor Party, influencing party policy towards more socially conservative positions.^[36] The SDA argued any large union would have similar influence over Labor, given its level of representation within Labor’s union membership.^[3]

By 2010, polling data revealed that the socially conservative public positions of the then SDA leadership were at odds with changing attitudes within the rank-and-file of the union.^[37] That year, the lobby group Australian Marriage Equality challenged the SDA to survey its membership before contributing further to the same-sex marriage debate in Australia.^[38] In response to a 2014 poll with 72 percent support for same-sex marriage, de Bruyn dismissed the figures but refused to poll his members on the issue, insisting he "When we talk to our members about out these things they agree with us".^[3]. SDA-aligned Labor MPs did not agree with De Bruyn, and expresses public support for same-sex marriage in defiance of the SDA, some South Australian examples being Kate Ellis, Amanda Rishworth and Nick Champion.^[3][39].

Gerard Dwyer replaced de Bruyn as National Secretary in 2014. In 2015, the SDA formally abandoned its outspoken opposition to same sex marriage and instead declared neutrality on the issue. The National Executive of the SDA formally adopted a policy of supporting the right of members of the ALP to act according to their conscience on the matter,.^[40]

Turf wars

In 2016, the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union was formed to challenge the SDA's perceived supine attitude towards industrial representation across the retail and fast food sector. RAFFWU describes itself as a "fighting union" and claims that the SDA's primary motivation is "to maintain, or increase its membership"^[41] rather than the improvement of workplace conditions for its members. The SDA has received criticism in the Fairfax press that some enterprise agreements that it has been involved with negotiating contain inferior conditions, most notably a higher base rate than the relevant post 2010 Modern Award to offset the lack (or reduction) of additional loadings paid during evenings, nights and over weekends where the relevant Award would otherwise mandate such additional penalty rates.^[42]