Labour hire firms will be among the target of the federal government’s second wave of industrial relations reforms in 2023.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says there are legitimate uses for labour hire, but workers doing the same job at the same site should get the same pay.
The Business Council of Australia has expressed reservations about the “same job, same pay” policy, particularly as employers are already having to deal with the increased complexity of the industrial relations system following the introduction of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation.
From The Australian:
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said: “Workers doing the same job at the same site should get the same pay. There are legitimate uses for labour hire, particularly when companies need a seasonal or surge workforce.
“But some companies are deliberately using cowboy labour hire firms that exploit casual workers in order to undermine job security and undercut wages,” Mr Burke said. “They’re using a loophole, which the former Liberal and National government refused to close, which is causing a race to the bottom on wages.”
Labour hire is a key driver of wage theft and exploitation, especially among migrant workers.
Late last year, a class action was lodged against labour hire firms exploiting Pacific Island workers under the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP), in what was described as a “pandemic of worker abuse” .
The parliamentary inquiry into establishing a modern slavery act was also scathing of labour hire firms:
Committee view
9.146 The Committee recognises that recent Commonwealth, state and territory inquiries have highlighted the role that unscrupulous labour hire companies play in contributing to the exploitation of migrant workers…
9.150 While the Committee acknowledges that a labour licensing scheme is no ‘silver bullet’ to stopping exploitation and modern slavery, it considers that taken together with the Australian Government’s existing measures and the recommendations of this report, it will assist to improve protections for migrant workers…
Recommendation 48
9.152 The Committee recommends that the Australian Government establish a uniform national labour hire licensing scheme, consistent with recommendations by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration and the Senate Education and Employment References Committee. This licensing scheme should incorporate random audits and unannounced inspections of labour hire firms to ensure compliance.
The Working Holiday Maker (WHM) visa has similarly become fertile ground for unscrupulous labour hire companies that abuse their workers. This was explicitly noted in the 2016 Senate Standing Committee report “A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders”:
The WHM visa program is a poorly-regulated program, and the bulk of the evidence to the inquiry showed that the WHM visa program has been abused by unscrupulous labour hire companies in Australia with close links to labour hire agencies in certain south-east Asian countries ……… (labour hire companies) ……are in fact not only using the program to fill potential shortfalls in labour, but also to gain access to cheaper labour.
Inquiries into the labour hire sector in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia all came to the same conclusion: there is widespread exploitation of vulnerable workers and this requires a regulatory response.
The Albanese Government is, therefore, justified in cracking down on labour hire.
