Labor’s Same job, Same Pay law starting to see change across Hunter region
For far too long labour hire workers have been exploited and paid less for the same jobs, but after recent laws that came into effect, NSW miners are finally being paid what they’re worth.
The Newcastle News
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In the New South Wales mining industry for nearly two decades, Reece Howells has felt the divide of being a worker under labour hire.
Same job but far from same pay, the Wambo Coal miner felt like a second-class citizen.
But while he’s one of the lucky ones to have secured a permanent role at his work site, a number of his contracted colleagues have been left in limbo for a number of years.
Finally the light is at the end of the tunnel for his fellow workers, with the Same Job, Same Pay law which was championed by the Labor Government and passed in November last year.
“Reaction from my co-workers is elation, they can see it coming, see the financial benefit, they can get mortgages, they can look after their families,” Mr Howells said.
“These laws are some of the most important laws that have to come into effect for coal mine workers.
“It was disgusting, so it’s great that it is finally coming to an end.”
At his site specifically, Mr Howells said labour hire workers were being paid $42,000 a year or less. But that is all starting to change.
“Although we haven’t seen a direct benefit via the laws at our site yet, there has been a lot of labour hire people being converted over to permanent employees and that is a direct result from the new laws,” he said.
Not only are the sweeping reforms set to see huge benefits for the mining sector but positive impacts are trickling through a number of other industries.
“We’re noticing positive benefits for warehouse workers and people in meat processing,” Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon said.
“There’s benefits here about delivering genuine fairness and equity back into the workplace.
Robin Williams from the Mining and Energy Union said it had been a “rort” for far too long but workers could “breathe a sigh of relief and have the job security they have always wanted.”
“We have seen workers in receipt of somewhere between $15-$40,000 per year increase in their pay.
“Those people can now get home loans, they can spend the money in the community, they can prop up local businesses and it’s probably the greatest thing I have seen happen to workers in the mining industry for more than a decade.”
Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt, who made a brief visit to Newcastle on Friday, said the government had been fighting to get wages moving again.
“That is now starting to happen as a result of the changes we have made, we have seen four quarters in a row or 12 months of wages now rising above inflation in Australia across the board and that compares to real wages falling when we came to into office,” he said.
The Queensland MP said both Central Queensland and the Hunter were two of Australia’s prime mining districts, which have supplied coal for decades across Australia and the world.
He said it was time all workers in the industry received “decent pay”.
“Labour hire coal miners were being extensively used by big mining companies and being treated like second-class citizens, being paid tens of thousands of dollars less per year than the permanent employees of those big mining companies. That is now going to change,” Mr Watt said.
“In NSW alone there are 120 mine workers who are now being paid an extra $35,000 as a result of Labor’s pay rises so that works out to about $800 a week more that families are getting in their pay packets and able to meet their cost of living pressures.
“In the Hunter we know there will be at least 1500 more workers who will benefit from these laws as their applications go through the fair work commission.”
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