Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was an extraordinary performance, wasn't it? It is hard to follow such wilful belligerence, but I will try. Some of the talk about working in the retail industry made me a bit wistful and nostalgic about my days as a trolley collector. I worked for a contractor who contracted to Coles. I worked on the award and I did not get any of my penalty rates, because the contractor decided not to pay them. I looked at the front of Coles every day as I brought the trolleys in and I thought, 'I wish I could be under their enterprise bargaining agreement.' That is what I thought, because I knew the reality of the situation. And the fundamental structure of these things has not changed.

The honourable member talked about the award and he talked about enterprise bargaining, and we need to have a few facts about this. Nearly all of these agreements are voted on by workers, so what happens with an enterprise bargaining agreement—

Mr Craig Kelly interjecting—

The member for Hughes might want to listen instead of belligerently shouting at people the whole time. He shouts down Sky, he shouts in the House—shout, shout, shout. He might just want to listen. All of the workers on these enterprise bargaining agreements vote to either accept the agreement or reject the agreement. Now, what worker would vote for less pay and less conditions? Answer: no worker would. There is a democratic vote at the start every one of these enterprise agreements and guess what?

Mr Craig Kelly interjecting—

No, that is not true. There is actually a comparison document between the award and the enterprise bargaining agreement. It has to be put there by law. It has to be in both agreements and the award, and it has to be in the lunch room. They have to have two weeks to consider the agreement. There is a whole series of steps. There has to be consultation by both the company and the union with the workforce and then the workforce votes in a secret ballot. Workers are not going to vote for an agreement that does not lift their wages and conditions. Let me tell you something about Coles. When I started as a union official with Coles, they had 80 per cent casual and 20 per cent permanent staff. But, if you go to any Coles across the country now, they have 80 per cent permanent and 20 per cent casual staff. That is because most of the workers are on permanent part-time contracts.

Mr Craig Kelly interjecting—

No, actually, that is not true. I have actually got the rates here, so let's listen to them. The retail award hourly rate is $19.44 and at Coles it is $21.93. Now, you might say, 'What about Saturdays?' On Saturday, the retail award is $26.25 and at Coles it is $27:41. Then we get to Sunday, it is $29.16 and then we get to Coles where it is $32.89. There it is in black and white. I can read out the casual rates for you too, if you want. Do you want the casual rates?

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