Unions and workers say a push from Anthony Albanese to place people in insecure work at the heart of industrial relations reform in Australia is long overdue.
The opposition leader will promise a “fairer system” for workers under a Labor-led government as he unveils his vision for industrial relations in a major speech in Queensland on Wednesday night.
But Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter has criticised the proposed policy, calling it one of the most “unlimited, unqualified, quite outlandish” promises to be made in the country’s history of industrial relations.
Mr Albanese’s policy push would include vowing to guarantee workers in the gig-economy the minimum wage and conditions through the Fair Work Commission.
He will also pledge action to address increasing casualisation in the workforce and the need to guard against the exploitation of employees working for labour hire companies.
“What we’re proposing is to have basic conditions that Australians know and understand they deserve,” he told reporters on Wednesday, ahead of the speech.
“We need to make sure we don’t have another class of Australians who are in insecure work.”
The industrial relations overhaul would also promise to legislate “job security” as a key objective at the forefront of the Fair Work Act.
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary Sally McManus said the focus on addressing the challenges facing people in insecure work was vital in ensuring they’re not left behind.
“It’s really refreshing to see, finally, a political party saying that something can be done and they will do something about insecure work,” she told SBS News.
“We need to protect all of us by upgrading our rights at work so that everyone has the same right basic protections in our country.”
Food delivery riders ignored ‘for too long’
A focus of Labor’s raft of reforms will be ensuring rights for workers in the gig-economy, including award benefits, superannuation, the right to collectively bargain, and to access to unfair dismissal protections.
In Australia, most gig-economy workers are classified as independent contractors – meaning they are not entitled to benefits such as minimum wages, superannuation, and workers compensation.
Labor’s plan would legislate to ensure more workers have access to employee protections and entitlements currently denied to them because of current definitions of an “employee”.
Delivery rider Alex Roxborough said politicians needed to take their rights “seriously” through supporting the proposed changes.
“For too long, the government has ignored food delivery riders – they’ve ignored the fact we haven’t had basic rights,” he told SBS News.
He said these concerns were heightened after the deaths of five delivery riders on the road late last year.
“When we don’t have minimum standards of pay, then that means that we need to take risks … riders are dying at the moment and there is nothing coming from the government to address that,” he said.
The Transport Workers Union has also backed the measures proposed by Labor.
“This has got to stop and we welcome the announcement to change the system to protect these workers,” Transport Workers Union National Secretary Michael Kaine said.
Government warns against ‘insane’ reform
Mr Albanese is also pushing for the definition of casual work “to be properly” defined in law to create a “fair test” to determine when a worker can be classified as casual.
He is proposing a crackdown on “cowboy labour hire firms” to guarantee those working for such firms are paid the same as other employees doing equivalent jobs.
Another move would limit back-to-back short-term contracts, with employers required to offer a permanent role to an employee after 24 months or two consecutive contracts.
Labor will also push for “portable entitlements” through consulting on a national system where workers could take their leave entitlements with them to their next role.
Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter on Wednesday called the proposed policy “insane”, claiming estimates amount it to costing up to $20 billion per year for businesses.
“Everyone should be paid fairly, but to propose up to $20 billion tax on business, as business is struggling through the toughest times they have seen since World War II, is absolutely insane,” he told reporters.
“The scale of what’s being proposed and the danger of it to Australian business is almost unfathomable.
“It’s one of the most unlimited, unqualified, quite outlandish promises that has ever been made in the history of industrial relations in Australia.”
Labor’s Industrial relations spokesperson Tony Burke has disputed the cost figure put forward by Mr Porter.
Labor has vowed to oppose the government’s omnibus bill on industrial relations changes currently before Parliament with the issue shaping up to be a major political battle at the next election.
The opposition claims some measures in the bill could leave workers worse off – despite it containing other measures that Labor supports, such as criminalising wage theft.
