David Feeney (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago, I, together with my wife, Liberty, and son, Ned, was proud to visit and lend my support to the 89 Fletcher Insulation workers who have now been on strike since 17 February. As we move into the harsh cold of a Melbourne winter, these workers have kept faith with one another and their union, the AWU, and remained at their 24-hour vigil at the gates of this Dandenong factory.

These workers have been a key part of Fletcher's building success and growing profits, with many having given decades of their working lives to this company as loyal employees. This hard-working group has recently had their loyalty repaid with an enterprise agreement that would slash longstanding conditions and provide absolutely zero wage increases for three years while increasing their hours and undermining overall job security. This was an enterprise agreement they simply could not accept. It is not an easy choice for workers to take action like this. It is a long time for families to go without a pay cheque, but these guys are prepared to put themselves on the line for others and for what is right and fair.

I am proud to support these workers at Fletcher Insulation in their fight for fair treatment today, day 95 of their fight for justice.

Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been eight reviews into emergency fire services in Victoria and not a single one of those reviews has recommended the action which Daniel Andrews and Labor took last week to split the fire services into voluntary and paid agencies. This has caused much confusion for not just many of my local residents but also volunteer firefighters and paid CFA firefighters. The whole situation has become quite messy. Neither know where they are going to be actually working in the future.

What I do know is this: local CFA volunteers have had enough. Clematis CFA volunteer firefighter of 25 years Shane Miller was recently quoted as saying:

… to have two separate organisations in the same station makes no sense [because] CFA and MFB work on different radio frequencies, they're different organisations, different training.

Ferny Creek CFA captain John Schurink, who was sacked from the CFA board last year over his opposition to the EBA, raised his concerns about surge capacity.

I know that Labor members find it quite tiresome to hear about the CFA. But on this side we actually care about CFA volunteers, we respect the work that they do and we do not just care about what the UFU does for the Labor Party. We are actually about the volunteers and not about the UFU.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to outline to the House a recent report released by the Young Workers Centre in Victoria. It is entitled Young workers snapshot: The great wage rip-off. The report's findings are damning. It found that one in five of the young workers surveyed were not being paid the minimum rate but in fact were on rates that undercut the minimum wage and conditions. It found that, whilst three out of four of the surveyed workers work unsociable hours, such as nights, weekends and evenings, less than half actually received penalty rates. It also found that the rate of unpaid trials and working off the clock had increased, with one in five reporting that they were not being paid for off-the-clock work, where they are attending meetings and trials without pay. These findings are damning—a large number of people working on weekends not being paid penalty rates, and wage theft is rife.

Businesses are not taking this government seriously or the Fair Work Ombudsman seriously. It is time this government acted and actually gave young people in this country an opportunity and a start—and not just those looking for those but also those currently in work. Wage theft is a problem in this country, yet this government is sitting on its hands and doing nothing. Listen to the findings in this report, act on the findings in this report, and do something to help young Australians who are being exploited at work.