One Nation continues its hypocrisy regarding coal miners’ pay. How many times can they talk about coal mine worker underpayments while voting against every legislative reform to fix them? Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts’ latest trick is calling for a government inquiry just as the Same Job, Same Pay laws he voted against are starting to deliver pay raises for labour hire workers in the coal industry.

Any inquiry into coal industry underpayments would reveal the obvious, mine operators have used labour hire arrangements to cut wages by circumventing site enterprise agreements. We have always agreed with Malcolm Roberts that labour hire exploitation in mining is a big problem. However, Senator Roberts prefers to attack the union and blame strange conspiracy theories rather than use his position in Parliament to deliver what is really needed: fairer work laws.

You don’t need conspiracy theories to see that mining companies have used legal loopholes to outsource large parts of their workforce to lower-paid labour hire arrangements to save money. They have gotten away with this for so long because, while unfair, it has not been illegal ever since John Howard’s WorkChoices banned Enterprise Agreements from containing provisions that contractors on a site couldn’t be paid less than permanents.

No conspiracy theories are needed to explain why labour hire companies seek their own Enterprise Agreements (EAs) to help them win contracts. Once a valid EA is in place, workers can’t take lawful industrial action to improve their conditions for the term of the agreement, usually four years. The only requirements for an EA are that at least two employees are covered by it, it passes a Better Off Overall Test (BOOT), and some procedural steps are followed.

Many labour hire agreements in the mining industry don’t breach any laws but still lead to very unfair outcomes. The BOOT only requires EAs to ensure workers are better off than the Award, not industry-standard pay and conditions which are much higher due to successful union collective bargaining.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) regularly approves EAs that allow for casual work, even though casual work is not allowed under the Black Coal Award. While EAs must be better off ‘overall’ than the Award, they don’t need to contain every Award provision and may include alternative provisions such as casual work. For example, the Black Coal Award doesn’t provide for a coal bonus to be paid, but this is a feature of many EAs – a point Senator Roberts and his supporters stubbornly misunderstand.

If EAs are voted up by a majority of workers and meet the legal requirements set out by the FWC, the Agreement is generally made and valid. The union can’t veto it, even if we believe it is unfair.

While accusing the union of playing a role in mine worker underpayments, Senator Roberts and One Nation have consistently used their position in Parliament to vote against laws that support permanent jobs and pay raises, such as Same Job, Same Pay laws for labour hire workers and stronger rights for casuals. Most shamefully, in 2021, One Nation voted with the Morrison Government to remove court-recognised rights for casual coal miners in long-term, full-time roles to receive leave entitlements. This stopped class actions set to deliver millions in unpaid entitlements to labour hire coal miners.

So, One Nation can bang on about investigations and conspiracies all they like. These conspiracy theories are also behind ‘red union’ social media ads targeting coal miners with confusing messages about underpayments.

Meanwhile, we are getting on with the job of lifting pay by fighting for permanent jobs and using the Albanese Government’s Same Job, Same Pay laws to win wage justice for labour hire workers. We campaigned for these laws, and now they are delivering real pay raises and more permanent jobs. If you want better wages in mining, the best way is to join the MEU.

Robin Williams

District President MEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy