Labour hire inquiry: Victorian Government to introduce licensing

LABOUR hire companies will be required to have a licence to operate in Victoria.

LABOUR hire companies will be required to have a licence to operate in Victoria.

The State Government committed to introduce licensing as early as next year, in response to the inquiry into Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work, which released its final report this week.

LABOUR HIRE CREATES ‘SECOND CLASS’ OF WORKERS

Workplace Relations Minister Natalie Hutchins said the Government would consider how it responded to 35 recommendations made in the report, but committed to licensing labour hire companies in an attempt to crackdown on exploitation of workers.

“This industry has been unregulated for too long,” Ms Hutchins said.

“We are committed to a licensing system for labour hire, one that locks in labour hire companies to commit to paying awards wages — which is what legally they should be doing anyway — but also to register with ATO and also to register with Worksafe.”

“Those that don’t do that, they won’t be on the list, they won’t be registered in this state.

“This Government says enough is enough, a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work in a safe environment.”

Underpayment of award wages, tax and superannuation avoidance, unsafe conditions and sexual harassment were the more common forms of exploitation discovered by the inquiry, chaired by Professor Anthony Forsyth.

“There are various ways in which labour hire workers in Victoria are treated almost like a ‘second class’ of worker,” Mr Forsyth said.

“The most evidence of breeches in the horticulture industry, contract cleaning and meat processing — they were the three main areas where we found the most breeches — often involving vulnerable migrant workers,” Mr Forsyth said.

Mr Forsyth admitted there were issues with enforcement of existing regulation and a federal licensing scheme for labour hire companies would be better than a state scheme.

“It would be preferable to have a national labour hire licensing scheme that would be a matter that I recommend COAG consider, but the states really shouldn’t wait around for that to occur. Victoria should get on and implement its licencing scheme.”

Mr Forsyth acknowledged some industries would be reluctant to see the introduction of regulation but said any suggestion that it could lead to increased prices for consumers were unfair.

“If we’re benefiting from low costs on supermarket shelves from other people being mistreated in the workplace that’s not really a fair solution for anyone” Mr Forsyth said.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari welcomed the inquiry’s report and said a licensing scheme would have a significant impact on workers lives.

“This (exploitation) is rife across not just one industry, but every industry,” Mr Hilakari said.

“This is not just one bad apple, this is a rotten orchard. And it’s happening right across Australia.

“We have seen workers exploited in some of the most horrific ways you could imagine, sexual abuse, violence, we saw one worker who was killed and then dumped in a toilet up by the Murray.

“It is unbelievable in this day and age that there is more regulation about hiring a car than there is about hiring another human being.”

Recruitment and Consulting Services Association chief executive Charles Cameron called on the State Government to restrict a licensing system to particular industries.

“There is no point laying extra bureaucracy and cost on reputable firms only to make them more costly across industries,” Mr Cameron said.

“You’ve got to remember that the labour hire industry is doctors, nurses, engineers, there’s so much more than unskilled or semi-skilled workers.”

Ms Hutchins said the Government would consider the inquiry’s recommendations and present more detail about its plans for a licensing scheme early next year.

The inquiry received almost 700 written submissions and heard from more than 220 witnesses during 17 days of hearings.