Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is wonderful to be here to speak today, and I want to talk a little bit about a local not-for-profit club in my electorate: the Moreton Bay Boat Club at Scarborough. The Moreton Bay Boat Club at Scarborough is a sailing club. It has hundreds of members; it is also a social club. I have been down to meet many of the members, and they provide a lot of good support for the community. They open up their venue at no cost at all to other local clubs, like the Probus Club and neighbourhood watches, and support them with cheap meals when they have functions there and so forth. They also help out Southern Cross Catholic College with school based traineeships in hospitality, enabling students to get their certificate III, which gives them the points that they require to get their QCE graduation. They also help people with a disability involved with sailing—they call it challenge sailing. Many of the special schools in my area go down there to learn to sail. So the club is a wonderful club providing good community services.

Unfortunately, just a week or so ago, the Moreton Bay Boat Club contacted me about a matter which was distressing them—I guess that is the way to say it. They were shocked to receive a letter from United Voice, the hospitality workers union, and the letter demanded the club provide 'explicit confirmation they will ignore any move by the Fair Work Commission' to reduce workers' penalty rates. United Voice went on to threaten that, should employers fail to make the pledge, their club would be a 'venue for further actions' by the union.

My club is one of many clubs affected, and this story is on the front page of today's Australian newspaper. This is a form of bullying by United Voice. It is a form of bullying, and they seem to think that they are above the law. It is just not right. The letter, which I received a copy of, is from the secretariat of United Voice to the club manager, Rochelle, and it says:

We recently contacted you—

on 17 October—

seeking clarification from your Club about whether or not you … support the submission made by Clubs Queensland.

It goes on to say:

As of … 2 November we are yet to receive a response which as noted indicates you are supportive of this recommendation. Once again, this is incompatible with being a valued part of your local community.

Give me a break—is this bullying! It then says:

If your full support and commitment is not given to protect weekend penalty rates irrespective of the decision from the FWC—

irrespective of the decision by the Fair Work Commission!—

it is clear that your club will opportunistically cut weekend rates if you become able to and we will be doing everything possible to inform the community of your regrettable decision.

Gary Bullock

Branch Secretary

This is bullying to the club manager. It also shows that the union are not looking after the best interests of the employee; in fact, they are actually being political. They are a political organisation. It says, 'We will inform the community of your regrettable decision and work hard against you.'

Rochelle, the manager, who is providing jobs for local students and local employees, said to me that she is really distressed. She said:

I am not at all impressed with the bullying stance they are adopting on the issue and the threat of informing the community about us not following their stance. The Moreton Bay Boat Club is a very community focus organisation and to have a union use these tactics is appalling to say the least … This is not my first encounter with United Voice. I had a very heated phone conversation some time back … Surely this form of bullying is unacceptable practice, what if anything can be done about this …

I agree with Rochelle: it is a form of bullying. United Voice need to represent their workers in a way that does not bully not-for-profit community clubs. It says in the letter from the secretary 'irrespective of the Fair Work Commission', which the Labor Party set up. Well, hang on—you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Those people from the Labor Party often talk about underemployment. I will not go into the issue of penalty rates, because it is an issue for the Fair Work Commission—other than to say I actually support Sunday penalty rates—but underemployment is created if people do not get the hours they need, and this form of bullying can reduce hours by clubs closing early. Thank you.