March 29, 2022
This federal election, we are campaigning for ‘same job same pay’ for labour hire workers. Labor’s IR shadow minister Tony Burke told our latest podcast how the policy would work.
Tony Burke told the Mining and Energy Union podcast:
“Same Job Same Pay legislation would say labour hire workers’ terms and conditions can’t be worse than the terms and conditions that govern the enterprise agreement that is there for people who are employed directly.
That’s the principle.
What does that mean? It might mean the company employs people directly; it might mean the company still uses labour hire workers but the labour hire workers are on the same pay and conditions as though they were working under the enterprise agreement.
If you’ve got the same experience and the same qualifications on the same roster doing the same job as somebody else – if you’re being paid less because you’re labour hire, same job same pay would fix that.
There is a role for labour hire sometimes, but it’s role should never be to undercut conditions. I’ve met with workers where this is exactly how they’re treated.
What’s the point of the original negotiation if the employer has the power to just walk away from it and just undercut every pay rate and condition that has been voted on by workers?”
Listen to the full podcast for more, at commoncause.cfmeu.com.au/podcast, or search ‘Mining and Energy Union’ on Apple podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast platform.
To learn more about the Same Job Same Pay legislation the MEU has put together a Same Job Same Pay website with stories from real workers and community members. We encourage everyone to get the facts from samejobsamepay.com.au.
