Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon joined with workers and their representatives today to call out the Morrison Government for \u2018savage cuts\u2019 at the Newcastle ATO.
\nMs Claydon said twenty per cent of jobs have gone from the Newcastle ATO since 2013.
\n\u201cThe Government says it wants to get more workers into the regions, but they\u2019ve cut 150 jobs from the Newcastle ATO since they came to power,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cPeople are retiring and they\u2019re not being replaced, and workers are under increasing pressure. I worry that this may just be the start.\u201d
\nMs Claydon also identified at \u2018exploitative labour hire practices\u2019 as a key problem.
\n\u201cThe Government is brazenly disregarding the pay rates and conditions enshrined in employment agreements by filling vacancies with temporary labour hire workers,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cThis is exploitation, pure and simple. Labour hire workers are expected to perform the same duties as their colleagues for less pay and none of the workplace rights like sick leave and holiday pay.\u201d
\nMs Claydon said the Federal Government\u2019s cap on staff hiring was forcing many agencies to turn to expensive labour hire companies for workers.
\n\u201cAnalysis of the AusTender website shows the Liberals have more than tripled labour hire spending, from $307 million in 2013-14 to more than $1.1billion in 2017-18,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cThe taxpayer is paying more, but workers are getting less because of labour hire fees. The only winners here are labour hire companies\u2019 bottom lines. It\u2019s an absolute outrage.\u201d
\nMs Claydon said Labor would make it illegal for labour hire companies to drive down pay and conditions for temporary workers.
\n\u201cLabor believes if you do the same job, you shouldn\u2019t be paid any less. We will legislate to ensure that workers hired through a labour hire company get the same pay and conditions as people employed directly,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cLabor will also abolish the Liberals\u2019 arbitrary staffing cap and give agencies the freedom to set their own staffing levels based on what they need and their overall operational budgets.\u201d
\nMs Claydon said wages, job security and working conditions would be key battlegrounds for the upcoming election.
\n\u201cAt the moment, too many Australian workers are subject to unfair labour hire practices, and treated like second class citizens with lower wages, substandard conditions and little security,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cWhile the Government has admitted to low wages being a \u2018design feature\u2019 of its industrial relations, Labor has led the way on policy to deliver decent jobs, higher wages and secure work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon joined with workers and their representatives today to call out the Morrison Government for \u2018savage cuts\u2019 at the Newcastle ATO. Ms Claydon said twenty per cent of jobs have gone from the Newcastle ATO since 2013. \u201cThe Government says it wants to get more workers into the regions, but … Continue reading “GOVERNMENT BETRAYS NEWCASTLE ATO WORKERS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}