Tony Burke drops same job, same pay label, as he woos business groups

Tony Burke has jettisoned the same job, same pay label from the government’s labour hire crackdown in an attempt to avoid a multimillion-dollar business onslaught.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says the industry campaign is railing “against something we’re not doing”, as he focuses IR legislation on closing the “labour hire loophole”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has jettisoned the “same job, same pay” label from the federal government’s ­labour-hire crackdown in an ­attempt to protect his industrial relations ­reforms from a mult­million-­dollar business onslaught.

Amid a nationwide industry-led advertising campaign attacking the workplace shake-up, Mr Burke has rebadged his reforms as closing “the labour-hire loophole” to hone the government’s sell on its IR overhaul due later this year.

In a briefing last Friday, Mr Burke is understood to have told members of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia that the government’s IR legislation would refer to the ­labour-hire loophole rather than “same job, same pay”.

The language was first tested by Mr Burke on May 18, weeks ahead of an alliance of industry groups launching its A Better Way, for Better Pay campaign on June 4.

Mr Burke told the chamber’s members that the shift had ­occurred in recent months, prompting industry sources to link the move with attempts to nullify concerns by promoting a targeted approach.

Business leaders on Monday said new slogans and names did not alter the substance of the IR changes aimed at ensuring ­labour-hire workers are paid at least the same as permanent ­employees.

With legislation expected in coming months, industry groups have seized on the broad nature of the proposed reforms in ads, warning Australians if they believe in being rewarded for experience and working harder “same job, same pay will take that away”.

Mr Burke – who in a National Press Club speech in February said the government’s second-round IR legislation was about closing loopholes – on Monday said: “I’ve been surprised the ad campaign has continued to rail against something we’re not doing. People will always use both terms (labour-hire loophole and same job, same pay).

The term labour-hire loophole describes exactly what we’re doing: closing a loophole in which labour hire is deliberately being used to undercut agreed pay and conditions.”

The Australian this month revealed Mr Burke was considering a new test to prevent specialist contractors being caught up by the changes and that he understood there were “legitimate purposes for labour hire that we don’t want to get in the way of”.

Australia's peak business groups have launched an advertising campaign blitz against Labor's proposed "Same Job, Same Pay" industrial relations reforms, arguing they undermine fairness for workers. Picture: Supplied

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations published its “same job, same pay” consultation paper in April, giving stakeholders a month to respond.

The consultation paper said: “In the lead-up to the 2022 federal election, the government committed to ensuring that labour-hire workers are paid at least the same as directly engaged employees doing the same work (the same job, same pay measure).

“The government intends to legislate the ‘same job, same pay’ measure in the Spring 2023 sitting of parliament.”

The guiding principles of the crackdown include labour-hire workers being paid at least the same as full-time workers doing the same job, empowering the Fair Work Commission to police disputes and ensuring businesses can access labour hire “for genuine work surges and short-term needs”.

In a June 7 speech to the ­Finance Sector Union national congress, Anthony Albanese ­declared the government was “legislating ‘same job, same pay’ because you shouldn’t be paid less simply because you work for labour hire”.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable – a key figure leading the industry campaign – said: “Whatever the policy is called, the consequences will be the same. It will reduce fairness in the workplace and Australian workers’ reward for hard work and experience. The government’s focus should be on what boosts productivity to meet the challenge that ­Australian business and workers face together.

“This is not about closing so-called loopholes; this is about roping in and restricting all contractors, large or small, across all sectors of the economy.”

Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn, who was excluded by Mr Burke from a recent union-employer meeting in Sydney, said that if the loophole was “narrow in nature”, the government needed to “reel it in and make that ­explicitly clear”.

“Rather than getting tied up in the name of the policy, it would be great to see the substance of the problem the government is trying to address, how they intend to solve it, and who will be roped in,” Ms Wawn said.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott warned “these things sound good as a slogan – same job, same pay – but that’s not actually what’s being proposed”. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Adam Yip

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said slogans sounded good but “‘same job, same pay” was not what was being proposed. “What’s being suggested is that every single person, irrespective of whether they’ve been there for 10 years, two weeks, two days, is going to get exactly the same conditions and pay as someone in the host employer. Assuming you can work out whether or not people are actually doing the same job,” Ms Westacott told Sky News.

“If I’m an engineer but I’m working on an extremely complex thing in BHP and I’ve got 15 years of experience, someone comes in for a couple of months and they get exactly what I get.

“They get the same things that I’ve negotiated in an enterprise agreement: bonuses, childcare, extra things that people put into their enterprise agreements. What BHP said last week should really concern every Australian. When a company says this is going to cost us over $1bn … that’s $1bn of activity they’re not going to do.”

Ms Westacott said labour hire was a “very legitimate part of our economy” and what drove productivity in Australia was the ­enterprise agreement system.

“Our big fear is that ‘same job, same pay’ will deter people from doing enterprise agreements because why would you do it if someone comes in and they’re going to be there for two days and get exactly the same bonuses, conditions,” she said.