Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about an issue which I am most passionate about, and that is the issue of the rights of workers and the struggle of the union movement to uphold the dignity of work for all Australian working men and women. This is an issue that has driven my working life as a union official and here in this place as a senator for Queensland.

It is just interesting to note that Monday this week happened to be Labour Day in the great state of Queensland. I took the opportunity, as I always do, to participate in Labour Day in Brisbane. For those listening to this speech today, if you happen to travel to Queensland on the first Monday of May of each year you will find that it is a day that is recognised as a public holiday, and that there is a significant march that takes place through some of the streets of the City of Brisbane. I'm very pleased to report that there were what appears to have been record crowds at this year's Labour Day march. Some reports were of 40,000 workers participating across Brisbane in the Labour Day celebration. Of course, we do have Labour Day marches throughout the states on that particular day, but the main one is in Brisbane.

It's great to be able to commemorate Labour Day back in May, which is where it belongs. Of course, Labour Day has huge historical significance in the state of Queensland, because it was first celebrated in Queensland in 1891. That was the same year as the Shearers' Strike, so in 2016 we celebrated the 125th anniversary of the Shearer's Strike and the first Labour Day. That was in May, and, unfortunately, the LNP government, in one of its more arrogant decisions, decided to move the Labour Day public holiday to later in the year. But I'm very pleased that the incoming Palaszczuk government made a commitment to change that and to bring it back to its true date in May.

I was proud to march with the SDA contingent on Labour Day on Monday. The ETU led the march and there were other unions involved: the Queensland Teachers' Union, the nurses' union, the Plumbers Union Queensland, the Australian Workers Union, the firies, the CFMEU and the Transport Workers Union, just to name a few unions.

Labour Day, as I said, is important in Queensland. We have a proud history of the union movement and, together with the Labor Party, our movement has fought for fair pay for fair work. We've fought for equal pay for men and women; for safe working conditions; for a better work-life balance and the importance of family in that consideration; and for penalty rates as compensation for unsociable work. Trading hours are important to retail workers, and it's important that the voice of retail workers is heard when the issue of shop trading hours is considered.

We know that the key achievements of our movement most recently include the superannuation guarantee. That was achieved through the preparatory work that was done by the ACTU and various unions winning superannuation as an entitlement in their enterprise agreements. Then the Labor government came in to build in the superannuation guarantee as legislation. That was a very, very proud and significant achievement. There was also paid parental leave—a similar evolution there—and we have seen the evolution of the modern award system as well. And, of course, a huge achievement was the defeat of Work Choices in the 2007 federal election.

I took the opportunity last week to deliver a talk to some of the students at the University of Queensland student union at my old alma mater. They wanted somebody to talk to them about the issue of workers' rights and I was very pleased to go back onto the campus and talk to young people about this issue. For those listening to this speech, I do think workers' rights is an area that we need to continually focus on. Young people take for granted what their working rights are, and that leaves them very much exposed to unscrupulous employers out there. I think there is a huge level of ignorance as to what people's rights are when it comes to work, so I always take up the opportunity to talk about this issue.

We went back to basics on what our industrial relations system is all about. We talked about what is the minimum wage. People may not be aware that the national minimum wage is currently $18.29 per hour, or $694.90 for a 38-hour week, and, if you're a casual employee, you receive a 25 per cent casual loading on top of that. If you're younger than 21, then you will have a junior rate that is based on the percentage scale from the Miscellaneous Award 2010. A lot of people aren't aware of where these minimum wages come from. If you're not covered by an award, it's the federal minimum wage I just mentioned, but, if you are one of the majority of workers and covered by an award, it's that award that sets your minimum rate of pay. Where do these rates of pay come from? We need to reflect on the fact that, actually, every year the union movement argue before the Fair Work Commission's expert panel to get a fair and reasonable wage through the federal minimum wage and through the award system. We argue every year to try to get an improvement. When the union movement are arguing for pay rises, they're arguing not just for their union members; they're arguing for all workers, because the benefits of what the unions do and what they argue for eventually flow across the whole of the system. Of course, you often find employer organisations, which are unions for employers, arguing against those wage rises. This year, it's significant that the National Retail Association actually argued for a zero increase in wages for retail workers—a very lamentable position from the National Retail Association.

People should be aware that they have the right to the National Employment Standards. Even if you're not covered by an award, these National Employment Standards cover things like your hours of work, flexible working arrangements, leave entitlements, public holidays, termination and redundancy conditions, and the requirement for a Fair Work information statement. This law protects workers from being paid less than the minimum wage, even if they agree to it. A lot of people think, if their employer tells them, 'This is the rate of pay,' then that's what the law provides. If your employer misleads you on that, you have rights to go back through the Fair Work Ombudsman or through your union, particularly, to claim back pay if you've been underpaid by virtue of an award or another minimum wage entitlement.

We also talked about the benefits of collective bargaining, which is a fundamental principle of the labour movement. Collective bargaining helps to combat inequality through the redistribution of wealth. I note that the International Monetary Fund just recently issued a paper on inequality in labour market institutions. They observed that a 10 per cent decline in union density correlates to a five per cent increase in the top 10 per cent income share. Most people think that perhaps union density or membership levels declining has an impact on low-income workers. Yes, it does, but also there is a corollary to that, which is that the share of income for people in the top 10 per cent goes up. This relates to income inequality. We're finding that collective bargaining levels are at record lows in Australia currently under this federal government.

When I was talking to these students, we talked about where to go for help. For the benefit of listeners, I want to go through that again today. The Fair Work Commission is something that people shouldn't take for granted. It's a national tribunal that deals with awards and agreements and sets those conditions. It deals with unfair dismissal, so, if you feel that you've been dismissed unfairly, you have rights to go to the Fair Work Commission in some circumstances. You can make applications to stop bullying and have disputes resolved.

The Fair Work Ombudsman also performs a valuable service, although I think it's very much under-resourced. But, of course, unions are there to help people, and I encourage anybody listening to this speech to go and find out which is the relevant union that covers their particular industry. You can do that through the ACTU and find out which union you should be working with and supporting, because ultimately it is only the union movement and, through it, the Labor Party which is working for the benefit of ordinary working people, to reduce levels of inequality and to bring fairness back to Australia.