Cash no substitute for a good holiday

A POLL of 1,000 Australians has revealed that most are not willing to trade holidays for cash, an issue that has gained prominence recently in the debate of the Federal Government’s proposed industrial relations changes. The poll, taken by Ipsos MacKay Public Affairs on July 16 and 17, showed 66 per cent of working Australians were unlikely to accept payments for some of their holidays. And 75 per cent of Western Australians said they were either “not very likely” or “not at all likely” to trade in their holidays. Ispos MacKay Public Affairs general manager Randall Pearce said the WA experience suggested that cash for holidays was not a popular option. Although cashing-in of holidays is an option under federal law, it is not available under the laws of all state and territories. The results also showed that where cash for holidays was a widely known option, such as WA, employees were particularly reluctant to exercise this right. “The message to the Government is – for most of us – four weeks break is not negotiable,” Mr Pearce said. However, 28 per cent of employed Australians said they were likely to “cash-in” some of their holidays, while 2 per cent had already done so.