Out of the frying pan: penalty rates under fire from celebrity chef

CELEBRITY chef George Calombaris has entered the industrial relations debate, slamming as uneconomical penalty rates faced by restaurateurs under the federal Fair Work Act.

Calombaris, who stars in the high-rating MasterChef TV show, has complained about the rates he will have to pay staff at his new Melbourne pasta bar, due to open this month, claiming it is up to $40 an hour per worker on Sundays.

''And it's not like they've had to go to uni for 15 years,'' he told the Power Index website yesterday. ''The problem is that wages on public holidays and weekend greatly exceed the opportunity for profit. So our labour laws are something that need to be looked at.''

The cost of eating out in Australia was expensive because of the workplace relations regime, Calombaris said.

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten disagrees with Calombaris on penalty rates.

''If George wants to bargain with his workers and improve productivity and be even more competitive, then the tools exist in our present workplace system,'' the website, which is owned by publisher Eric Beecher's Private Media Pty Ltd, cited him as saying.

''Penalty rates compensate wait staff and others who have to work late nights, public holidays and weekends while everyone else gets to spend this time with family and friends.

''The Gillard government won't be adopting the low road of paying already low-paid workers less.''

But Institute of Public Affairs work reform director John Lloyd said Mr Shorten and the unions should be listening to Calombaris' concerns because he joined a growing list of restaurant owners warning penalty rates could force restaurant closures and job losses.

''Under the current system the penalty rates are underpinned by an award and basically set in concrete,'' Mr Lloyd said in a statement.

''The Rudd/Gillard workplace relations system has imposed a rigid set of rules.''

Small businesses were opting out of genuine bargaining with their employees, with initiatives offering growth to businesses and job security for employees not being pursued, Mr Lloyd said.

Mr Lloyd said that while unions offered platitudes about enterprise bargaining, in practice they would not even entertain the slightest reduction in agreement or award terms.

He said the review of the Fair Work Act was too modest. The review is set to be completed and handed to the government by an independent panel in May.