Albo’s plan to win back blue-collar trust

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese will move a motion aimed at repairing trust with the blue-collar workers who turned their backs on Labor in 2019.

Industrial relations will be put front and centre of Labor’s election campaign, as Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese seeks to repair trust with blue-collar workers who turned their backs on the ALP in 2019.

When Parliament returns for the final sitting week of the year today, Mr Albanese will move new laws which would mean casuals at labour hire firms could not be paid less than workers employed directly by a company.

Labour hire has become a huge issue, particularly in coalmining regions, but also in meatworks, construction and aged care.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese will put industrial relations on the election campaign agenda.

While the law is unlikely to get the necessary support of the Federal Government, it is expected to signal that Mr Albanese will be putting the “same job, same pay” issue, as well as industrial relations, at the top of the party’s agenda.

A review of Labor’s devastating 2019 election loss, conducted by Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill, found blue-collar workers turned away from the party and the party needed to find a way to reconnect with Queenslanders.

Mr Albanese said the proposed laws would stop labour hire firms “making a quick buck off the backs of working Australians”.

“From airport check-in counters to coalmines, you can have two Australians working side-by-side, doing the same hours and the same job at the same level – yet one gets paid less than the other,” he said.

“The difference can amount to hundreds of dollars a week. That’s just not fair and it goes against who we are.”

Under the proposed amendment to the Fair Work Act, which is also Labor’s industrial relations policy suit, labour hire firms would be obliged to pay any workers they employ at least the same amount as a permanent worker employed directly by the company contracting them.

There would be some expectations, including allowing for short-term surge workforce, where there could be different wages and conditions but for no more than one month.

Companies using labour hire firms would also be required to provide all workers the same access to amenities, facilities, training and conditions.

The industrial relations step up comes as federal politics has entered a faux-election campaign, with both Mr Albanese and Prime Minister Scott Morrison hitting the hustings in recent weeks.