The ACTU wants the Albanese government’s upcoming same job, same pay laws to target major companies such as CIMIC, Qube, BHP and Qantas for using labour hire-like structures to push down pay.

The union peak body named the construction, stevedore, mining and airline giants in research released on Tuesday that found Australia’s largest dozen labour hire providers now ranked in the country’s top 30 largest commercial employers with combined revenues of about $20 billion.