Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Transport workers have been the definition of essential workers throughout this pandemic. They've kept supermarket shelves stocked, they've put vaccines and medical supplies into hospitals and they've continued to work day and night to keep Australia moving through lockdowns, often putting their own health and wellbeing at peril in the process. They don't ask for much in return, but they do want the same thing that every worker in Australia wants—job security.

Over the last few weeks, with the support of the Transport Workers Union, transport workers from across Australia have taken legal strike action to protect their job security. They've taken strike action over attempts by transport companies to undercut them by bringing in outside hire and labour hire and lower rates of pay.

As soon as companies can bring in a second class of worker on lower rates of pay, we know they will eventually be used to squeeze the existing workforce out. We've seen it happen in the mining sector, where companies like BHP have booted workers onto labour hire contracts to cut their pay by up to 40 per cent. At many mines in Queensland, labour hire now accounts for the majority of the workforce. At Toll Group, FedEx, BevChain, Linfox and StarTrack, employee drivers and owner drivers have stood together and fought for their job security. Their collective voice and power has brought these larger employers back to the negotiating table. The Toll Group, Linfox and BevChain have reached an in-principle agreement with their workers, while talks are ongoing with FedEx.

Disgracefully, there's one hold out—StarTrack. This company is fully owned by the Australian government. The two ministerial shareholders—Minister Fletcher and Minister Birmingham—should come out here and explain why their company is fighting tooth and nail against the job security of the Australian workforce. In some yards in South Australia, StarTrack is already using labour hire to perform 70 per cent of the work alongside other outside hire.

Last week both StarTrack and the Transport Workers Union appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Job Security. We heard from Matthew Spring, who has worked for StarTrack for the past seven years. Here's what Matthew had to say:

When I first started working for StarTrack, we had very little outside hire. … What we have now is 20 regular outside hire people who come in every day. … When we talk to them and we question them about what they're getting paid … they tell us that they're on $25 an hour on a flat rate on an ABN. … If one of them has an accident, they no longer come to work. That's the last time we'll see them. If someone brings too much freight back, that's the last time we see them. The company dismisses them.

He said, 'If they talk to me, as one of the site delegates, about the strike action that's going on'—

we don't see them again. They just disappear, and new people come in to take their place.

We also received evidence that these labour hire workers and outside workers are engaged on sham contracting arrangements in order to circumvent the temporary migrant visa restrictions. This is an outrageous situation for a government-owned agency. Rather than engage in good faith on these issues, StarTrack has been launching slurs and lies at their own workforce.

The TWU promised that industrial action would not disrupt medical supplies. This is a long-established process that has previously worked smoothly on numerous occasions. StarTrack showed up to the job security hearing last week and claimed that 1,500 medical deliveries had been disrupted. But here's the truth: if there were any medical deliveries disrupted, that is due to the incompetence and lack of foresight of the StarTrack management. StarTrack workers are going back on strike at midnight tonight. I stand in solidarity with the TWU, StarTrack workers and all drivers who are fighting for their job security.

Senate adjourned at 19:57