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

I want to welcome members of the Health Services Union, care industry workers and the assistant secretary of New South Wales, Lauren Hutchins. I'll say a few things about the health services industry, particularly aged care, in a moment, and I'm going to have a lot more to say over the coming weeks.

I recently also met in Canberra with some of the elected Uber health and safety representatives, or HSRs: Nabin, Viral, Karthik and Rejin. These are some of the first health and safety representatives to be elected at Uber anywhere in the world. They told me about some of the practical solutions they have won in their workplace. The first issue was that drivers are waiting around restaurants, not getting paid, before picking up a food order. This was despite there being a quick fix on the order system where businesses can set the start time for the pick-up of orders after 30 minutes. But one company, Grill'd, which is a little bit notorious for burger university and is also famous for ripping off its own employees, didn't want to actually make the system more efficient, and naturally, over time, the drivers started to refuse to pick up orders at that store. As a result, there were often 30 orders sitting there cold. After a few months, the franchisee owner was getting in trouble and begged drivers to start picking up orders again. They both agreed to implement the quick fix that would save them both time.

The second issue they raised was at Woolworths, where the click-and-collect workers weren't loading orders into a trolley, so the Uber drivers had to do it themselves, taking on health and safety risks without workers compensation or appropriate remuneration. Woolworths had actually subcontracted three other people to do that work and often did not have those people available. Uber drivers banded together to communicate this issue to the store manager, and it got fixed through their occupational health and safety reps.

The third issue was that drivers were having problems with Woolworths workers not acknowledging that they were waiting for click-and-collect orders at the front desk. They were deprioritising them behind other customers in the line. The issue was that the Uber app treated this as wasted time for drivers, and it would often deactivate workers because they weren't picking up the orders. Uber drivers came to management with a solution. They said to Woolworths, 'You could put a special bell in for drivers to use to get the attention of the back of house staff.' The drivers brought forth a sensible solution, and the next day that Woolworths store adopted that solution, to their credit.

What we can see from these examples is that what starts as a small issue can become a bigger issue if not addressed. Being an elected health and safety rep means that workers can work with management to improve their workplace. It delivers better outcomes, not just for workers but for employers as well. Health and safety representatives have legal protections from being victimised, like Theo just recently, a former health and safety rep at Qantas, who was unlawfully stood down for raising concerns about worker safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March this year, the District Court of New South Wales rightly slugged Qantas with a criminal conviction. Yes, it's now official—at Qantas, they are a criminal outfit. The judge made the comment that there was a clear gross power imbalance between the company and their staff, and it should not be used to silence workers who bring forward safety concerns.

But it's clear from these examples that productivity isn't some abstract thing; it's about finding how you do something that is more effective and safer for everyone, rather than working longer for less, like the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, wants us all to do. Workers told me that a major problem in the gig industry is the ratcheting down of rates of pay, which means that workers have to work longer and longer to make a living wage. This is the reinforcing cycle, where the algorithm drives down pay. Many of those opposite, not all, think that these workers don't deserve any protections at work and that they should be left to the mercy of the algorithm. Many of those opposite complain about union activism, but this is what activism looks like—those examples I've just given. It's better for workers and better for employers.

But again, fundamentally, we keep seeing that Peter Dutton, the Liberals and the Nationals are always for that low pay. They opposed these measures and measures to give a voice to workers that so significantly were brought through just recently in the closing the loopholes act. They voted against gig reform, supported by gig workers and gig platforms alike. In contrast, this government wants to use tripartism as a way to bring businesses and workers together to reach actual productivity gains, as in some of the examples I've run through today—simple, practical and life-changing opportunities for people.

Gig workers and their unions have fought for legislative changes, but more work still has to be done. Right now, state unions are running important cases and campaigns across the country to make gig workers' platforms contribute to state workers compensation schemes to cover platform workers, including those in the care industry, the food delivery industry and the rideshare industry. At the moment, the insurance that some digital platform operators have in place is significantly insufficient to cover loss of income when workers are injured or killed and is substantially less than workers compensation. Michael Kaine, the national secretary of the Transport Workers Union, said:

So far, 15 food delivery riders and a rideshare driver have been killed at work. There's no time to lose in protecting these workers and their families in every state and territory with the workers' compensation safety net.

Jared Abbott, the assistant general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, said:

While gig workers suffer, large corporations reap the benefits. Uber, a global giant, continues to operate without contributing to WorkCover premiums. Instead, taxpayers shoulder the responsibility, by footing the bill through compulsory third party insurance.

The Health Services Union—my good friends here will have much more to say in the coming weeks about the HSU—has called for gig platforms that use a contractor model to contribute to workers compensation schemes as well. The Health Services Union has noted that taxpayers and the Victorian government bear the cost of high numbers of worker incidents in the care economy, including in disability, aged care and mental health care.

I support gig workers and the unions in their campaign for state governments to force multinational platforms, many of them platforms that are funded by equity funds for profit, to pay insurance premiums and to build on the new national rights for platform workers that we've introduced nationally. This is what brings fair competition in the market for those that meet those standards that many in Australia expect and that, unfortunately, those on the opposite side consistently vote against. But those companies that do the right thing should have a fair playing field. They should actually have companies also meeting the same standards and the same rules. These platforms should be paying workers compensation as well and should be contributing to those requirements so that the rest of the community doesn't have to bear the cost.

These are just some of the issues that workers and unions keep raising. In the care industry they've just recently won a valiant victory for wages that recognise the value of their work. This morning I met with the delegates who are up here today—Elaine, Lobby, Walesi, Alena and Ulamila. They told me about the historic wage increases of up to 28 per cent in the aged-care sector, which will change the lives of workers and older Australians. The government is committed to providing funding to support increases to award wages made by the commission in this matter. This will help deliver a higher standard of care for older Australians. As the national president of the Health Services Union, Gerard Hayes, has said, this is sector that has been 'held together by the goodwill and commitment of a severely underpaid, insecurely employed workforce'. Having a wage increase of between 18 and 28 per cent brings them into a competitive market with health facilities across the country.

Historically, we've seen those opposite vote against initiatives that bring these low-paid workers into a better paid system. The latest example I've been given on this, and also the health and representatives I spoke to today, stressed that there needs to be a fulsome approach towards workforce planning in aged care. Those I spoke to are calling for a positive registration scheme for workers that puts training opportunities and funding allocations at the heart of the industry. But, as in the NDIS, there are some dodgy providers that follow the money and look to outsource work to agencies and engage gig platforms. It's important that those gig companies also have the same registration responsibilities—in all industries as well as in aged care, which is as it should be.

During the royal commission into aged care, the senior counsel assisting, Peter Gray QC, argued that, without regulation, there's no compulsion for platforms like Mable to follow best practice. Older Australians deserve best practice, and workers in aged care deserve a fair wage. The new aged care act will be core to putting the rights of older people at the centre of aged care. We must all get it right.