Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] The Senate Select Committee on Job Security inquiry heard from working Australians, businesses, industry groups, academics and unions from around the country this year about the rise of insecure and precarious working conditions. During that inquiry, we heard time and time again from workers who have been ripped off and badly treated in insecure work. We heard truly shocking stories of exploitation being dressed up as flexibility. Throughout the inquiry, we heard that some employers are engaging in surveillance of their workforce, to intimidate people out of speaking out about their work conditions and their pay and to punish those who do.

At this time of rising surveillance and union busting I want to commend the bravery of workers around Australia who have spoken to the inquiry directly about their experiences. We heard evidence about blacklists, about workers being sacked for taking protected action and about casuals too scared to raise safety concerns for fear of not being rostered on for another shift. This evidence should be spurring the Morrison government to action. But, instead, the Morrison government and One Nation have combined to shut down the inquiry and to silence workers around Australia and not allow them to have their voice heard before the Australian Senate.

I would like to use this opportunity to put their evidence from the job security committee on the official Senate record. Mel is an enrolled nurse and a member of the United Workers Union. Mel revealed that the business model of many aged-care homes is to be constantly understaffed. Mel said she has seen care homes cut the shifts of cleaners and laundry workers and then ask nurses to pick up the slack on their own shifts. Mel told us about the aged-care workers who are regularly expected to work the overnight shift in the dementia ward by themselves, and that in the dementia ward that she manages the workforce changes daily as nurses on low-hour contracts are forced to work across several facilities. Mel often has to begin her shift by training a new group of staff, and the dementia patients in her ward are often distressed at the cycle of workers coming in and out and changing every day. They are forced to manage up to three rosters, travel to three different care homes and work under three different sets of safety and workplace procedures—all on minimum hours. It's conditions like these that led to such devastating COVID outbreaks in aged care in New South Wales and Victoria.

Mel told us that she often heard staff in the lunch room talking about how they were struggling to get on while being on low-hour contracts. Ultimately, when aged-care workers are forced into underpaid, understaffed and insecure work, the quality of care for aged-care residents suffers as a result. The royal commission itself made this exact point. To quote from the commission's final report:

The bulk of the aged care workforce does not receive wages and enjoy terms and conditions of employment that adequately reflect the important caring role they play.

It went on to say:

Inadequate staffing levels, skill mix and training are principal causes of substandard care in the current system.

This is exactly the evidence we received from aged-care workers like Mel throughout the job security inquiry. Of course, now, shamefully, Mr Morrison and One Nation are shutting down this inquiry to silence and stop aged-care workers from speaking out about their conditions of work.

We had evidence from Andy Davey, who is a member of the CFMEU Mining and Energy Division and lives and works on the South Coast of NSW. He gave shocking testimony to a forum on job security about the insidious rates of casualisation in the mining industry, where workers engaged through labour hire companies regularly earn 30 per cent less than their directly employed colleagues, working side by side with them on the same site. More and more roles in the mining industry every year are casual or contract positions. Andy gave us the example of labour hire firm WorkPac, which, even after granting a long-overdue 16 per cent pay rise, still pays their workers $3 less an hour than the permanent mineworkers they work alongside. There is a pure profit being paid by companies like BHP and Anglo American to labour hire companies like WorkPac. Money that should be going to the mineworkers performing the work is instead being diverted to multinational labour hire companies.

Labour hire is not only driving down pay and conditions in mining; it is also being used to intimidate and silence the workforce. Andy told us about the experience of WorkPac workers who are:

… too scared to speak out, not only for themselves but for safety concerns for any injuries … These people are sucking the same dust. Their body is suffering as much as a permanent employee.

These casual workers can't get a mortgage, they can't get sick leave and they earn far less than their full-time colleagues. Well, this is the new standard of work in mining all across sectors of the Morrison economy, and now, shamefully, Mr Morrison and One Nation are shutting down this inquiry to silence and stop mineworkers from speaking out about their conditions of work.

We heard evidence from Chris Kirkby, who is an AMWU member in construction in Western Australia. He has seen the use of casuals explode in his industry since he began his career over a decade ago. He told us that casual employment has become the norm in construction and that casual-conversion clauses are routinely ignored or removed from the enterprise agreements. He totally rejected claims that the permanent casual work he is engaged in provides flexibility. He said that what he really wants is choice. If employers care so much about flexibility, they should give workers a choice of whether they are employed as casuals or in secure employment. Chris told us the story of how he went through a period of bargaining with his employer. He and his colleagues weren't even asking for a raise; they were just asking for their pay and conditions to be rolled over. I quote from Chris's testimony to the inquiry:

… just before Christmas, we were told that if we didn't sign up for what was essentially a 25 per cent pay cut, we would be getting the sack, so we had no other choice but to take protective action. So we took protective action, and … we were handed redundancy letters.

They were immediately replaced by casuals. Chris and many of his workmates then had to take jobs with another contractor on the same building site, doing exactly the same job they had been doing before but now as casuals, for less pay and under worse conditions with none of the entitlements of a permanent employee.

This is disgraceful behaviour, but it isn't an isolated incident. We heard many such examples of threats, blacklisting and casual workers simply being let go for standing up for their pay and conditions. It's clear by listening to these stories that our industrial relations framework is broken, which makes it all the more appalling that Mr Morrison and One Nation are shamefully shutting down this inquiry to silence workers like Chris from speaking out about their conditions at work.