It took a mighty fight, but workers at the Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PCKT) had a huge victory a few weeks ago, negotiating a new Enterprise Agreement that protected their jobs from being outsourced to labour hire.
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But while workers celebrated, the PKCT dispute also highlighted the terrible truth of our so called 'Fair Work' laws.
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"Our workplace system has become blatantly rigged in favour of employers," said Mark Morey, Secretary Unions NSW.
Our workplace system has become blatantly rigged in favour of employers.
- Mark Morey, Secretary Unions NSW
"It's so bad that simply hanging on to your job is now a major achievement.
"Indeed, there has been little to celebrate for workers in the hospitality sector - as we've seen from the recent revelations about wage theft in places like the Adithya Indian restaurants in Wollongong and Nowra.
"Meanwhile workers in the so-called gig economy, delivering meals for companies like Uber Eats or Deliveroo, are cynically being treated as independent contractors rather than employees, and denied basic workplace rights.
"Despite our growing national economy, real wage growth for the five years to November 2018 was a paltry 0.5 per cent.
"Over the same time, company profits have soared by around 40 per cent.
"Don't be fooled into the thinking this national pay freeze happened by accident."
Finance minister Mathias Cormann let the cat out of the bag when he told the media that low wages growth was "a deliberate feature of our economic architecture".
Mark Morey added, "In other words, the Federal Government has intentionally set out to stifle wage growth.
"The Government's 'architecture' includes cuts to penalty rates, the widespread use of outsourcing and contracting out, the explosion of dodgy labour hire providers, the exploitation of overseas labour, and the normalisation of wage theft as a business model in the hospitality and franchising sector.
"All of this creates a downward spiral, as law-abiding businesses that treat their workers fairly have to compete with businesses that are exploiting the system.
"Eventually everyone gets dragged down to the lowest common denominator."
But it doesn't have to be this way.
Unions NSW has put forward a four-point plan to take the hand brake off wages, and to help restore fairness to Illawarra workplaces:
1. Regulate the gig economy - and give these workers the same rights as others
2. Impose strict standards on labour hire - including that they must pay at least the same rate as permanent employees
3. Stop the misuse of casual employment - if you have continuous, regular employment, then you shouldn't be treated as a casual
4. Tighten up the loophole that allows companies to terminate their Enterprise Agreements, and send workers back on the Award safety net, on a whim.
None of these measures are complicated.
All we need is a Federal Government that's prepared to back workers.
