Mr BURKE - 2006-06-15
There has recently been much media attention focused on Australian Workplace Agreements, particularly the agreement that Spotlight has proposed for its employees. Can the minister advise the House of the impact this particular AWA has on Spotlight’s employees?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan. I know he takes a very active interest in this issue. I will try to be brief. This is a very important issue. This whole Spotlight AWA sends a very clear signal to Australian workers - and, hopefully, not Territory workers - of what is in the wind with John Howard’s industrial relations changes. The Australian Workplace Agreement that has come into force in New South Wales through Spotlight, which does have branches here in the Territory, has not spread to the Territory yet. However, we need to find out about what is in that AWA.
In New South Wales, Spotlight has offered their employees an AWA that completely removes penalty rates, overtime rates, rest breaks, incentive-based payments and bonuses. They have removed annual leave loading and also public holiday rates. Do you know what Spotlight have offered the employees to do this? Two cents an hour increase to go on to this AWA. It is absolutely outrageous! Not only that, there is no guarantee of a wage increase for its five-year term, so people are expected to sign up, put away all these things that they have fought hard for, for an extra 2 an hour, and they will have to put up with it for five years. In anyone’s term, that is a pay cut.
There is a comparison here that I have made, which I will table for the information of members. The members opposite might want to see it. They will see - no overtime, no paid rest break, all hours worked for ordinary hours, no leave loading, no RDOs. There is a whole string of things there …
Ms Carney: Do you have the ABS figures? No, you do not have the ABS figures.
Mr Stirling: You support this.
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: You might want to hear about …
Mr Stirling: The opposition support it.
Dr BURNS: They do support it, and one wonders whether they would introduce AWAs into the public service in the Northern Territory if they ever got into power here.
Let us see what Spotlight’s New South Wales General Manager said:
Then, the Chief Executive of the National Retailers Association said:
Well, I hope there are a lot that do not, because this is robbing workers of wages and conditions. This is something we all need to stand up for; there is no real choice in it. I do not want to see AWAs like that spread here in the Territory. That is why we have the Northern Territory Workplace Advocate, so people can ring up and find a comparison of what they are losing through these changes - unlike Dave Tollner’s outfit, which tells them what is legal. What is legal is not always right. I completely oppose John Howard’s industrial relations changes. I know that, my colleagues know that, and the opposition does not.
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan. I know he takes a very active interest in this issue. I will try to be brief. This is a very important issue. This whole Spotlight AWA sends a very clear signal to Australian workers - and, hopefully, not Territory workers - of what is in the wind with John Howard’s industrial relations changes. The Australian Workplace Agreement that has come into force in New South Wales through Spotlight, which does have branches here in the Territory, has not spread to the Territory yet. However, we need to find out about what is in that AWA.
In New South Wales, Spotlight has offered their employees an AWA that completely removes penalty rates, overtime rates, rest breaks, incentive-based payments and bonuses. They have removed annual leave loading and also public holiday rates. Do you know what Spotlight have offered the employees to do this? Two cents an hour increase to go on to this AWA. It is absolutely outrageous! Not only that, there is no guarantee of a wage increase for its five-year term, so people are expected to sign up, put away all these things that they have fought hard for, for an extra 2 an hour, and they will have to put up with it for five years. In anyone’s term, that is a pay cut.
There is a comparison here that I have made, which I will table for the information of members. The members opposite might want to see it. They will see - no overtime, no paid rest break, all hours worked for ordinary hours, no leave loading, no RDOs. There is a whole string of things there …
Ms Carney: Do you have the ABS figures? No, you do not have the ABS figures.
Mr Stirling: You support this.
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: You might want to hear about …
Mr Stirling: The opposition support it.
Dr BURNS: They do support it, and one wonders whether they would introduce AWAs into the public service in the Northern Territory if they ever got into power here.
Let us see what Spotlight’s New South Wales General Manager said:
- We are doing what we are told by the legislators … We are not the ones writing the laws. … Like any other legislation we fall under, we follow it.
Then, the Chief Executive of the National Retailers Association said:
- Far from being defensive about it, the National Retailers Association applauds it because we think a lot of other retailers will follow Spotlight’s lead.
Well, I hope there are a lot that do not, because this is robbing workers of wages and conditions. This is something we all need to stand up for; there is no real choice in it. I do not want to see AWAs like that spread here in the Territory. That is why we have the Northern Territory Workplace Advocate, so people can ring up and find a comparison of what they are losing through these changes - unlike Dave Tollner’s outfit, which tells them what is legal. What is legal is not always right. I completely oppose John Howard’s industrial relations changes. I know that, my colleagues know that, and the opposition does not.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016