Labor to listen to workers’ worries

LABOR’S top brass will touch base with workers, unions and employers in Cairns today about stopping unfair labour hire practices and the growing instability of employment.

Opposition jobs spokesman Brendan O’Connor said labour hire workers in Cairns and regional Queensland were being used to undercut wages, conditions and job security of the rest of the workforce.

He and Labor Leichhardt candidate Elida Faith will today launch a website to give workers that have been ripped off or found themselves in a dangerous work situation the chance to tell their story.

“Australians deserve secure jobs and decent wages, yet many labour hire workers feel insecure at work,” Mr O’Connor said in a statement.

“More than half of all labour hire workers have been with their employer for less than 12 months and they are twice as likely as other workers to want more hours each week.”

Mr O’Connor said the labour hire employment made it harder for regional workers to make ends meet.

“It’s time for the scourge of unfair labour hire practices to end,” he said.

“Labor committed at the last election to examine the definition of ‘casual’ work and to set an objective test for determining when a worker is casual, to introduce a national labour hire licensing scheme and to crack down on sham independent contracting,” he said.