In May bosses in the hospitality sector were rewarded (for being bosses in the hospitality sector) with a Fair Work ruling allowing them to cut the wages of 40,000 workers. The decision to slash 25 percent from the Sunday penalty rates of casual workers on the lowest two pay grades of the restaurant industry award came into effect on 1 July.

The government’s Fair Work Amendment Bill will be considered by the Senate in coming weeks. If passed, it will give bosses the green light to put workers on individual contracts that cut wages and drop below the award.

The Abbott government has also just locked away a deal to delay a planned increase to the amount employers have to pay into workers’ superannuation. The rate will be frozen at 9.5 percent until 2021 instead of rising to 12 percent by the end of the decade.

I asked my union what it was doing to fight the attacks and was told: “United Voice has launched a federal court appeal against the recent Fair Work decision … our members are helping lobby the parliament to block the Fair Work Amendment Bill, we have worked with the ACTU on their advertising campaign and we are also building a member campaign on this issue (still a work in progress).”

Well, the union’s appeal lost. Its case was dismissed by the Federal Court on 26 August. While bosses heave a sigh of relief, hospitality workers will continue to work anti-social hours for less money. But bosses and the government want more. Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney has pointed out that the Liberals are eyeing wage cuts across industries.

Liberal backbencher Alex Hawke immediately jumped in to call for penalty rates to be cut further. “Given that Sundays are no longer sacrosanct … having to pay a 75 percent loading is an old concept”, he told parliament, “there’s no real reason or modern defence for paying such a loading on the same trading day as any other.”

It’s clear that the union’s strategy of fighting the bosses in court and trying to appeal to the good nature of politicians is a recipe for doom. With the attacks mounting, our union needs to offer a stronger lead.

[Azlan McLennan is a member of United Voice.]