Page 9 - ETU Journal Autumn 2017

exploited labour are undercutting honest competitors and placing downward pressure on wages. THE SALVATION ARMY
The Commonwealth Government should introduce a licensing scheme for labour hire businesses in selected industry sectors where there is evidence of significant levels of human trafficking, forced labour and/or egregious exploitation. Such sectors should include agriculture, food processing, construction and hospitality.
WESTERN COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRE
The current system is broken. If I robbed a bank the police are hardly going to negotiate with me on how much of the money I stole must be returned if I was caught.
UNIONS BALLARAT
A new provision should be inserted into the FW Act providing that if the
number of employees covered by an agreement significantly
exceeds the number of employees which the
agreement was anticipated to cover, this should trigger
the commencement of the agreement-making process. MAURICE BLACKBURN LAWYERS
The response of the European Union to the issue of pay and conditions of labour hire workers has been to issue
a Directive on Temporary Employment Agencies which restricts the use of temporary employment to temporary engagements and provides that temporary agency workers receive the same pay and conditions as permanent employees.
QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT
I have been in heavy industry construction for 8 years. I have had the opportunity to work on some of the best agreements in Australia. But now all I see is our entitlements stripped at an alarming rate until we get a job offer with no contract at all. All I gave was bank details and was told my roster. Flat rates. No nightshift allowance. No smoko breaks.
Fair pay and conditions. We have had a good run, we are willing to negotiate
and take a reasonable deal. We have families and commitments just like these bosses and managers and we work hard to deserve to be treated right. I don’t need a fat pay packet like the boss, just a fair one.
GRAHAM WOOD
I was made redundant at the age of 51 after 30 years. My life and my wife's life have been a nightmare since my redundancy. I have done all sorts
of casual work, so has she. But we have never been able to get other permanent jobs.
I will never forgive successive Australian politicians for making life for my wife and me so uncertain and so hard for so many years. We have often been down to rock bottom because of lack of sufficient casual work.
Also the ruses of the cheating employers are heartbreaking and ongoing.
At any rate I am disgusted with the standard of political debate and politicians in general.
BILL AND AVA HUBBLE
My husband works in the transport industry where the employment conditions are horrible. After our daughter was born he was working 14 hours overnight 6 days a week, but
he was only being paid for 10 hours per night. It got to the point his own daughter didn't recognise who he was, and almost cost us our marriage.
He is currently working at a new job in the transport industry where he has been employed as a casual for almost 2 years despite working in excess of 30 hours every week. Again he has no breaks and is expected to work 7 or 8 hours a day.
As several of the drivers have complained and requested they
be employed at least part time so they have some security and leave entitlements, they are now replacing all the casual drivers with independent contractors.
This morning my husband was told that once the new contractor was trained he would no longer have a position.
I think it is absolutely disgusting where Australia has gotten to.
BIANCA CHISHOLM
www.etuvic.com.au
GAVIN
MARSHALL
SOLIDARITY
SENATOR
Senator Gavin Marshall was instrumental to achieving the Senate Inquiry into the Corporate Evasion of the Fair Work Act.
Gavin Marshall was an ETU official from 1991 and Assistant Secretary of the ETU Victorian Branch – positions he was honoured to hold – until 2002 when he was elected to the Australian Senate, representing Victoria.
Gavin completed his electrical apprenticeship and went on to work for the Victorian Railways. It was this life experience that cemented his belief in the necessity for active trade unionism and to ensure a fair deal for workers.
It was Gavin's own values, lived experience working as an electrician, and inspiration from Gough Whitlam that drew him to the Labor Party. He remains committed to the fundamental, original principles of the ALP: fairness, equity and social justice for all.
Gavin has never wavered from his fundamental belief that Australian unions and unionists are the moral bedrock of this country.
Many thanks to Gavin for the central role he has played in ensuring that this Inquiry happens – and forcing the government to eyeball the people who are really affected by their cruel and unjust laws. n
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THE ETU > AUTUMN 2017