ETU FACTS: workers’ rights and the federal election

How will your rights as a worker be affected by the outcome of the 2022 Federal Election?

Same job same pay rules for labour hire workers

Labor
Liberal

Ensure that workers employed through labour hire companies receive no less pay than workers employed directly.


Make wage theft a criminal offence

Labor
Liberal

Make wage theft a criminal offence.

*The Morrison Government chose NOT to criminalise wage theft in 2021.


Protect major project agreements

Labor
Liberal

Protect major project agreements and ensure that workers’ conditions like rosters can still be negotiated at a minimum every four years during the life of a project.


Permit apprentice ratios and union rights

Labor
Liberal

Abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and Building Code, removing limitations on what construction workers are allowed to bargain for including apprentice ratios and union rights and making it easier for workers to be represented by their union.


Comment

The Labor Party’s policies are in response to demands from our members for a fairer deal for workers. They will empower workers to secure improved wages and conditions and the standards of living for all Australians.

The Morrison Government’s policies seek to take an already unfair system and make it even harder for workers to improve their wages and conditions, reinforcing the power imbalance between employers and workers. Wages have gone backwards in real terms under the Coalition Government, and wages cuts are a deliberate feature of their “economic architecture”.

Authorised by M. Wright, Electrical Trades Union Division, Sydney

This article was publised on 3 May 2022.