Six Ways to Benefit as a Qrtsa Member

1. Lobbying to all Levels of Government on Your Behalf

Qrtsa lobbies all levels of government on your behalf. This entails networking, making submissions and sitting on numerous committees, task-forces and boards to represent your interests. Click here to see a list of our achievements. And click here to see some of our representative work.

2. Special Interest Committees

Qrtsa is developing a number of Committees for various industry sectors and issues that are of interest to retailers. These Committees will be representative from specific sectors in retailing, for example, florists, hairdressers and gift shops. This will be an excellent way for retailers in these areas to have a strong voice on the issues that most affect them. You are welcome to form a Qrtsa Special Interest Committee that is relevant to you and Qrtsa is ready to help you get started. If you would like to form a special interest committee please click here to send an email.

3. Personal Advice & Assistance (and no recorded messages!)

Experienced and qualified Qrtsa staff (and no annoying recorded messages) are ready to answer all of your business related questions, no matter how big or small. If we don't have the answer straight away, we know where to find it.

Qrtsa can also direct you to professionals who can help you with Legal, Accounting, Leasing and General Business advice, all at special member rates.

4. Member Discounts

Qrtsa has formed a number of corporate alliances with large suppliers which gives members significant discounts on major business expenses such as insurance, shopfitting and security. Our most popular discounts include special rates on merchant facilities through the Commonwealth Bank. We access our network of corporate members and service providers to assist members in obtaining the prices on services and supplies that are usually reserved for large corporations. Our objective is to give you the opportunity to fully recover the cost of Qrtsa membership through savings with our Corporate Alliances.

Click here to take a look at some of our more popular alliance and discount packages.

5. Keeping Informed

Qrtsa collects and stores information on an enormous number of issues affecting retailers. Qrtsa keeps you regularly updated with the latest information in a number of ways:

Qrtsa's monthly "Australian Retailer" magazine gives you an overview of the retail industry as a whole and the issues that most affect you, both from a legislative point of view, and by keeping you updated on new products and developments relevant to your business. The "Australian Retailer" magazine is distributed across Queensland and the Northern Territory as well as our sister associations' members in New South Wales (RTSA NSW), Tasmania (RTA), South Australia (SRA) and Western Australia (IRO).

We have an up-to-date and informative MEMBERS ONLY e-mail bulletin that goes out once a fortnight. This e-bulletin contains HEAPS of information and is our direct line to you when last minute news or urgent information comes in. Currently we have over 1,500 members receiving this exclusive publication. This newsletter contains so much that we won’t let non-members subscribe! You can subscribe to this e-mail Bulletin simply by supplying your email address to us at e-bulletin@qrtsa.com.au.

Each year you receive an updated copy of this Members' Guide and the Employers' Guide, now in one handy book. The Information Sheets that are included in this guide are also available individually and new ones are continually being produced. Click here to see some examples of the information sheets we have available.

The Qrtsa web site at www.qrtsa.com.au gives you 24 hour, seven day a week access to a wide variety of information including wage charts and information sheets. Many of these are available only in the MEMBERS' ONLY section. In the members only section you will find: The Employers Guide, Wages Charts, Wages Bulletins, News Articles, Public Holidays Dates and Penalties, Info Sheets on Refunds, Bagchecks, Security, Fair Trading, Merchandising and more, Information about Qrtsa member discounts and much, much more!.

6. Industrial Relations Advice and Representation

As well as being kept up-to-date with regularly updated, comprehensive summary of the state retail awards award changes through special bulletins, the Australian Retailer magazine and the Employer's Guide, Qrtsa members are advised on any aspect of staff management. This is probably our most frequently used area and we can advise on almost all awards. We have a number of services that include:

• Phone Advice on Demand - if you have a question about staffing or the award simply call QRTSA for the answer.
• Wage Bulletins - Whenever the Award changes we send a wages bulletin to all members to let them know.
• The Employers' Guide - A summary of the main Queensland Retail Awards provided to all members when they join and updated regularly.
• Vetting Service - If you have prepared any material for your staff (employment contracts, warning letters, induction kits, interview questions, etc) simply fax them to Qrtsa and we will check them over to ensure that they comply with all relevant legislation. We can also prepare these documents for you.
• Preparing Documents - preparing documents such as employment contracts, enterprise bargaining agreements, company policies and induction kits.
• Representation - We can represent you in unfair dismissal cases, trading hours, workplace health and safely, wages claims, and discrimination and small claims cases.

As a member you are part of an organisation almost 3,000 members strong and you have that strength to call on when you need it.