WAGE THEFT NEEDS ACTION, NOT TALK

After seven years in power and dozens of wage theft scandals on their watch the Liberals are still only talking about doing something.
 
Wage theft has been allowed to flourish under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government.
 
For nearly seven years now, Labor has been calling on the Liberals to do something about worker underpayment, whether it occurs as a result of genuine payroll error or deliberate, systematic wage theft.
 
But despite scandal after scandal – starting with 7/11 in 2014 – the Government has not done a single thing to stamp it out. That’s why we have seen yet another underpayment example come to light today.
 
It’s clear Scott Morrison simply does not take wage compliance seriously. And by failing to act, his Government has sent the message to businesses that they don’t need to take it seriously either.
 
We have also seen migrant workers in fast food chains, convenience stores, nail salons, hairdressers, the construction industry and across Australian farms being ripped off by their employers time and time again – and the Government has done nothing.
 
Another “discussion paper” isn’t action.
 
Australian workers need to know that their employers cannot rip them off with impunity. And they need to know that if they are short-changed their claims will be taken seriously and they’ll be repaid fully and quickly.
 
If this discussion paper results in legislation Labor will look at it closely.
 
But it’s hard to trust a Government that continues to attack workers with its union-bashing Ensuring Integrity Bill.
 
Unions have always played an essential role exposing these scandals. But this is a Bill that could see unions – the best advocates workers have on wage theft – shut down over minor paperwork breaches.
 
Morrison can’t have it both ways: he either cracks down on wage theft or he continues his crusade against the union movement. It’s one or the other.
 
Unions fight for better wages. The Government on the other hand wants to keep wages down, calling low wages growth a “deliberate design feature” of its policies.

TUESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2020