The federal Labor Governments has successfully introduced Same Job, Same Pay reforms and campaigned well on this at the election against equivocation from the LNP opposition, who opposed the legislation. This means directly and indirectly employed workers in the same workplace cannot be disadvantaged. For migrant workers, a principle similar to Same Job, Same Pay is raised by government policy, but actually uses a narrow comparison to a single ‘equivalent worker’ selected by the employer, or is left to national market averages, not to a fulsome comparison of colleagues in the same workplace. This system remains from the LNP federal Government, during whose time migrant workers were exploited badly, including widespread wage theft (including superannuation non-payment). They are not fair or effective conditions and they don’t support a full comparison to enterprise-level wages. The Same Job, Same Pay reform uses enterprise agreement data to ensure a full enterprise-level comparison. Employers must engage with openness on the norms of pay across their organisation, not selective comparisons that are hard to audit. Employers who engage in enterprise bargaining are ahead of the game and can do this easily. Making this a condition for employing skilled migrants encourages more employers to engage with enterprise bargaining. Gender equity and other pay comparisons are not proved by an employer selecting a single data point but by a fulsome comparison across a workforce. The same holds here. Employers can also make reference to market salaries published on the Home Affairs website. This means workers may earn the same as a broader, national market average but less than those in the same workplace. For workers in capitals and high-paid regions this risks disadvantage. Building on the principle already present, this regulation can be aligned fully with legislated Same Job, Same Pay for direct and indirect employment, reflecting enterprise-level conditions. Summary guidance from Home Affairs (emphasis in bold and italics): ‘Subclass 482 or 457 visa holders If you are a primary Subclass 482 or 457 visa holder, your sponsor must ensure that the terms and conditions of employment provided to you are no less favourable than those they provide to Australian citizens or permanent residents performing equivalent work in your workplace. This means that all primary Subclass 482 and 457 visa holders should be paid market salary rates by their sponsors. For more information about market salary rates, visit the Department of Home Affairs website [or phone 1318 81].’ Employer requirements are not designated as their own workforce, but a national average (with the national income threshold for the relevant stream, not occupation or firm-specific): • you have determined the annual market salary rate (AMSR) correctly and • you will not pay the overseas worker less than the AMSR, that is, less than an Australian worker would be paid and • both the AMSR and the overseas worker’s pay, excluding non-monetary benefits, is no less than the relevant income threshold.’
General Resolution
Fairness for migrant workers in line with Labor’s values and Same Job, Same Pay
Conference welcomes federal Labor's Same Job, Same Pay reform to ensure fairness for labour-hire workers and promote direct, secure employment. Conference calls on the federal Labor Government to ensure that the same principle, implied already in migrant worker conditions, is fully applied at employer level for migrant workers. This means migrant workers' pay must be fair at an enterprise level. Implementation should involve the experience and insights of unions, migrant workers and employers. Migrant workers must not only be paid at the same level as a national average salary, as regulation currently provides, but at the same level as their direct colleagues doing equivalent work. This additional distinction will protect against workers in higher-income regions, including capital cities and key regions, being paid less than colleagues who are permanent residents or Australian citizens. If an IT worker in Sydney or an electrician on a mine site is only paid the national average salary for their occupation, their salary minimum may be much be lower than local levels, and their colleagues' salaries. The existing and limited test for an equivalent Australian worker (single worker not enterprise-wide) dating from LNP Governments was not effective in protecting migrant workers and worthy of review.