July 30, 2024
Momentum is building for Same Job Same Pay as our Union continues to make applications and the first order from the Fair Work Commission has been handed down.
First order at Callide mine
Hundreds of labour hire workers at Batchfire’s Callide mine at Biloela in Central Queensland are in line for a pay rise after the Fair Work Commission made the historic decision to issue the first order under new Same Job Same Pay laws on 1 July.
The order covers almost 350 labour hire mineworkers employed by Workpac at Callide. It means their pay must be lifted to match rates under the Batchfire Enterprise Agreement covering permanent employees. Workpac employees at Callide mine generally receive about $10,000 to $20,000 less than Batchfire employees a year and the order would close this gap from 1 November this year.
MEU member and Workpac production operator Josh Stevens is one of the workers in line for a pay rise in November after being labour hire at Callide mine for six years.
“This pay rise will have a very strong impact, particularly since I’ve just started a family. I now have a daughter who is just two months old, and this pay rise will help go towards the essential things like housing, groceries, bills, nappies and baby clothes,” said Josh.
“At the mine, the majority of workers are labour hire, so that means hundreds of workers are likely to get a pay rise. This will be good for our community since it is a tight-knit community where we all know each other.
“I think more people will want to continue living in the local area if we are all treated fairly and being paid the same.”
Applications at Bengalla mine
Earlier this month the MEU filed two more Same Job Same Pay applications in the Fair Work Commission covering labour hire coal miners at Bengalla open cut mine in the Hunter Valley.
Two applications, covering labour hire workers employed by CoreStaff and Skilled Workforce Solutions have been submitted. The applications cover about 150 employees working for both labour hire companies at the mine in Muswellbrook, which is owned by New Hope Group.
The pay difference between Skilled Workforce Solutions workers and permanent employees at Bengalla can sometimes be up to $40,000. The pay difference between CoreStaff workers and permanent employees at Bengalla can sometimes be up to $50,000.
Once an order from the Fair Work Commission comes into effect it would lift pay of labour hire workers in line with the terms of the Bengalla Mine Enterprise Agreement and deliver pay rises to labour hire workers performing work on roster patters covered by the Agreement.
BHP applications get a boost from the Prime Minister
On the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave our Same Job Same Pay applications against BHP a boost.
We have filed 10 applications for regulated labour hire arrangement orders covering approximately 1700 labour hire workers employed by WorkPac, Chandler Macleod and BHP subsidiary Operations Services at Peak Downs, Saraji and Goonyella Riverside open cut mines in Central Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
BHP has flagged its intention to fight our applications against Operations Services, arguing that OS are ‘service contractors,’ not labour hire, and thus exempt from Same Job Same Pay orders.
While BHP will throw everything at trying to avoid getting an order, we are confident that OS workers meet the conditions for the regulated labour hire arrangement orders we have applied for and are emboldened that the Federal Government will back in our case.
The Prime Minister has announced that Federal Government lawyers will intervene to back the MEU’s case for Same Job Same Pay for Operations Services workers.
On Saturday, PM Albanese said “We will send federal Government lawyers to back the workers and the unions in their case against the labour hire company Operational Services … to send a very clear message to companies that are fighting to keep these loopholes open to undercut wages and conditions. When we pass a law about a fair go at work – we back the words with action.”
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There are also applications for Same Job Same Pay orders before the Fair Work Commission at Rix’s Creek mine and Boggabri mine in NSW, and Poitrel mine in QLD.