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

[inaudible] tiring work in hot, often dangerous conditions and too often dealing with difficult and impatient customers. In recognition of that fact, fast-food workers are entitled to a paid 10-minute break in a four-hour shift—unless, it seems, you work for the tax-dodging wage thieves at McDonald's. McDonald's has been taken to court by the SDA for cheating 250,000 workers out of their paid breaks and, in the process, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from its workers. The SDA has evidence of McDonald's rolling this rort out across the country. There's Thomas, who was told by his manager that because he is allowed to have water whenever he likes he's not entitled to a paid break. Really? McDonald's is paying its workers in water? And there's Victoria, who was told by her Macca's manager: 'They are technically a thing, but we don't do them in this store because we are too busy.' That's what the manager had to say.

When you steal someone's rest break, it isn't just theft, it's a safety issue. Sam, a Macca's worker from southern Sydney, has told me about how he and his colleagues never received their 10-minute breaks. He saw exhausted co-workers slice their hands and suffer severe burns as a result of fatigue. It just so happens that McDonald's is the largest employer of young people in Australia. It's a major multinational taking advantage of young Australians and vulnerable workers. This is happening in McDonald's stores across Australia. It isn't an accident or the case of a few bad franchisees. In fact, much of this wage theft allegedly occurred at stores run directly by McDonald's.

And what's the best defence that McDonald's highly paid lawyers could come up with? McDonald's defence is that their staff aren't entitled to their 10-minute break because they're taking microbreaks of a few seconds each whenever they go to the toilet or have a drink. McDonald's are saying every time you have a sip of water or go to the bathroom that's your break. If McDonald's argument is accepted, then every shift worker in Australia can say goodbye to their breaks as well.

Some SDA members were told by Maccas that if they wanted to get more shifts they needed to quit the SDA. In some stores, managers put photos of union members up on the wall to single them out and intimidate them. Again, we're talking about workers who are mostly 16 and 17 years old—in their first job—being bullied by McDonald's to quit their union.

And what does Maccas do with all the money it steals from Australian workers? It sends it all overseas, to avoid tax. In 2020, it paid a service fee of $558.5 million to an offshore McDonald's entity. That's right, a fee for nothing. But it allowed McDonald's to reduce the amount of tax it paid in Australia that year by $120.4 million. You can add that to the $250 million in alleged wage theft and $600 million in potential penalties. McDonald's has been ripping Australia off for too long, and, McDonald's, I'm putting you on notice: this has got to stop here.

And here's my message to anyone working at Macca's who has had their paid breaks stolen. Back when I worked as a bar attendant and a cleaner, smoko was sacred. If you aren't getting a paid break, Macca's are stealing from you. So join your union, the SDA; stand up together against the crooks stealing your wages, and tell Macca's, to quote shed rock legends The Chats, 'I'm on smoko, so leave me alone.'