In today’s AFR, employment & workplace advisory partner Bridget Little comments on the impact of the government’s “same job, same pay” rules, designed to ensure workers employed through labour hire firms are not financially disadvantaged.
The article reports on new analysis by the United Workers Union indicating that hundreds of warehouse workers had secured significant pay rises under the laws, in line with increases for labour hire workers in the mining sector.
Bridget explains that mining was “first off the block” because of the sector’s large workforces at multiple individual sites. Because warehousing involves more employers with smaller workforces, the changes had been “more piecemeal”.
“Employers impacted by the changes are assessing how they may need to reshape and organise their workforce,” Bridget said. “For example, staying strictly within the three month exemption for surge work periods like Christmas, offering casuals ongoing employment and looking differently at labour hire arrangements.”
To read the full article, click here.
