Superannuable Shift Allowance and The "Super Question" They Fear - Shift Work Shouldn’t Mean a Poorer Retirement

And It’s Time to Ask Why This Still Hasn’t Been Fixed

Shift workers keep Queensland running. Nights, weekends, public holidays — across corrections, health, emergency services, transport and other essential public sector roles, work does not stop.

Yet despite decades of enterprise bargaining, a fundamental unfairness remains unresolved: superannuation is often calculated on base salary alone, even though shift work is an ordinary and permanent feature of many roles.

The result is predictable. Shift workers retire with less.

Superannuable Shift Allowance and The "Super Question" They Fear - Shift Work Shouldn’t Mean a Poorer Retirement

And the longer this issue remains unresolved, the more important the next question becomes:

Why has this still not been fixed?

What Is the Real Issue?

Shift allowances and penalties exist to compensate workers for the realities of working outside ordinary hours — disrupted sleep, health impacts, and family costs.

However, in many Queensland public sector agreements:

• shift allowances are treated as separate from “ordinary earnings”, and

• superannuation is calculated only on base salary

This means workers are compensated for shift work in the short term, but their retirement savings do not reflect the full reality of their work.

Over decades, that exclusion compounds into a significant financial disadvantage.

Shift Work Is Not Optional — It Is the Job

For many workers, shift work is not overtime or an add-on. It is inherent to the role.

This is particularly true for:

• Queensland prison officers

• emergency services workers

• healthcare and hospital staff

• transport and infrastructure workers

These roles exist because Queensland requires 24/7 coverage. When superannuation does not reflect that reality, the system is misaligned with the work being performed.

A Long-Standing Issue That Has Been Left Unresolved

The interaction between shift work and superannuation has existed since enterprise bargaining began in the 1990s.

It has been known.It has been understood.And yet it has repeatedly been deferred.

This raises a legitimate and necessary question:

Why have the unions historically responsible for negotiating these agreements not resolved this structural inequity?

This is not about blame. It is about accountability — and about whether long-standing problems are being actively solved or simply managed.

Proof of Concept: How the Issue Can Be Addressed

Importantly, this issue is not impossible to fix.

The Freightliner Australia Coal Haulage Pty Ltd Enterprise Agreement 2019 (which expired in 2023) provides a useful proof of concept.

Under that agreement:

• compensation for weekend penalties, shift loadings and other allowances was factored into a single Annual Remuneration rate, and

• superannuation contributions were calculated on that full Annual Remuneration, not a narrow base rate

This agreement did not pay separate “superannuable shift allowances”.Instead, it used pay design to ensure that compensation for shift work was structurally included in the superannuation base.

The significance is clear:

Where shift work is inherent to the role, remuneration can be structured so that superannuation reflects the real earnings of the job.

The agreement may have expired, but the model demonstrates that the problem is not technical — it is a matter of industrial choice.

Why This Matters for Queensland Prison Officers

For Queensland correctional officers, this issue is particularly acute.

Prison officers:

• work continuous rotating rosters

• perform duties in high-risk environments

• rely on shift-based earnings as a significant part of total pay

• provide community safety 24 hours a day

When superannuation is calculated only on base salary, the system effectively ignores a major component of the work.

This is not a minor technicality. It is a retirement equity issue for a workforce that cannot opt out of shift work.

This Is a Fairness Issue — Not a Technical One

Examples like the Freightliner agreement show that:

• recognising shift work in the superannuation base is achievable

• the barrier is not law or payroll complexity

• it is industrial priorities and bargaining decisions

When workers are told the issue is “too hard”, what they are really being told is that their long-term financial security is negotiable.

MYUNION does not accept that.

MYUNION’s Position

MYUNION believes that:

• shift work should not result in a poorer retirement

• superannuation arrangements should reflect the real nature of the job

• where shift work is inherent, remuneration structures must account for it

• unions exist to fix long-standing inequities, not indefinitely defer them

Asking hard questions is not disloyalty.It is advocacy.

What Shift Workers Can Do Now

Shift workers have the right to:

• ask what their superannuation is actually calculated on

• question why known inequities persist

• demand transparency from those who negotiate on their behalf

• support unions willing to confront entrenched issues directly

Real change begins when long-standing problems are no longer avoided.

The Bottom Line

Shift work keeps Queensland functioning.

If that work is essential enough to require nights, weekends and public holidays, it is essential enough to be fully recognised in retirement.

Shift work should not mean a poorer retirement.

And it is time to ask why it ever has.

Ask the Unions why this has not been fixed.

gethelp@myunion.au | 1300MYUNION | www.myunion.au