The Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association (AREEA) has raised questions about the recently released ‘same job, same pay’ bill discussion paper.
The ‘same job, same pay’ bill will require employers to pay labour hire workers the same rate as direct employees doing the same job.
AREEA said the bill could “greatly disrupt longstanding workforce practices in some of the most productive and highest national revenue producing projects” in Australia’s resources and energy industry.
Chief among the concerns raised by AREEA was the common practice of employing multiple different entities at a site, resulting in the overlapping of job classifications, qualifications and duties.
It is also common for individuals to hold the same qualifications as a colleague but be paid differently due to various factors such as experience, business operational knowledge, length of service with the employer, and performance assessment, according to AREEA.
AREEA also said the bill has a lack of acknowledgment that non-permanent forms of employment offer choice to both employers and employees as the workforce is highly mobile. It is common that workers will move between projects at various stages throughout the life of the operation.
“Without competitive and flexible labour hire services supplementing permanent site workforces, mines and operations will close, jobs will be lost, and state and federal tax and royalty revenues will be foregone,” AREEA said.
AREEA is not the first company to speak out over the ‘same job, same pay’ bill, with BHP raising concerns earlier this year.
However, while AREEA said it “fundamentally disagrees” with the premise of the ‘same job, same pay’ policy, the company has promised to engage with the bill’s discussion paper.
The ‘same job, same pay’ consultation paper was released on April 13, and the Federal Government intends to legislate the measure in the spring sitting of Parliament.