Tag Archives: trade unions

Public Procurement and Social Impact in New South Wales

Associate Professor Chris F. Wright and I presented evidence at the “Inquiry into the Procurement Practices of Government Agencies in New South Wales and its Impact on the Social Development of the People of New South Wales”.

Public procurement represents a substantial portion of the economy and provides a unique opportunity to drive significant social and economic benefits. The power of public procurement can – and indeed should be – harnessed to promote decent work, local employment, and sustainable development.

Our submission makes several key recommendations aimed at enhancing the social and economic impact of government procurement:

Establish Centralised Procurement Oversight: We propose the creation of a centralised authority dedicated to overseeing procurement across all government departments and agencies.

Lower Threshold for Contract Disclosure: To enhance transparency and public trust, we recommend lowering the disclosure threshold for government contracts from $150,000 to $10,000, similar to the Commonwealth level.

Prioritise Local Suppliers: We suggest the implementation of a local procurement policy which prioritizes local suppliers, fostering regional economic development.

Social Procurement Clauses: Introducing social procurement clauses to help ensure that businesses providing secure, well-compensated jobs are eligible for government contracts.

Supplier Debarment: To maintain high ethical standards, we recommend the introduction of a supplier debarment regime, to exclude suppliers found guilty of dishonest, unfair, or illegal conduct from government contracts.

Other Key Takeaways From the Hearing:

  • Current procurement oversight ineffective due to lack of expertise and transparency issues, enforcement of anti-slavery policies in supply chains inadequate due to lack of follow-up and operationalisation. Expertise and capability building needed for enforcing social dimensions of contracts.
  • Strengthening worker representation in procurement ensures fair labour practices. Worker representation mechanisms can improve employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity, with positive impacts on procurement outcomes.
  • Government procurement can play a crucial role in creating an effective skills ecosystem. In Switzerland, procurement policies that give preferential treatment to firms with training apprentices increase the number of firms offering training without compromising quality.
  • Unions can play a positive role, as evidenced by studies showing improved training quantity and quality in countries with strong union presence. Unions have positive impact on productivity, worker wellbeing, and social benefits.
  • Value for money in NSW procurement often interpreted as price alone, despite social and economic benefits being important factors.
  • New South Wales government should require contractors to demonstrate compliance with work health and safety regimes.

Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV

Modern slavery may seem a distant issue in Australia, but a new course will teach graduates why an understanding of it is increasingly important in every business

It might be easy to imagine, especially in Australia, that slavery is a thing of the past. But an estimated 15,000 people were living in conditions of modern slavery here in 2016, through forced marriage and labour, sexual exploitation, debt bondage and human trafficking – exploitation that disproportionately affects women, children, asylum seekers and migrants. Globally, in that same year, 40.3 million victims were being abused.

Martijn Boersma is an associate professor of human trafficking and modern slavery at the University of Notre Dame Australia, where a new course aims to provide the skills and knowledge that will enable people to work proactively to put an end to the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Continue reading Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV

Consultation on Modern Slavery and Worker Exploitation (New Zealand)

Modern slavery and worker exploitation are severe types of exploitation that can be found both internationally and in New Zealand. To address these behaviours, significant collaboration between government agencies as well as civil society, corporations, trade unions, academics, and international partners is needed.

The New Zealand Government sought feedback on a new law aimed at addressing modern slavery and worker exploitation in New Zealand and around the world. The law would introduce new obligations for organisations with operations and supply chains in New Zealand. Below is a submission made by academics and representatives from civil society that work on modern slavery and labour exploitation.

 

Research Article: Making sense of Downstream Labour risk in Global Value Chains

While the efforts by actors on the buyer-side of value chains – such as brands and retailers – to address upstream labour abuses are well documented, there is a lack of research into how actors on the production-side of value chains – such as raw material producers – can identify and address downstream labour risks. This research presents the findings of an action research project that focused on the Australian cotton industry. By applying a sense-making lens, we propose four properties that can be used to identify labour risk in global value chains, providing insights into the capacity of producers to address downstream labour abuses. We suggest that there is a possibility for a ‘book-end’ approach that combines upstream and downstream actions by buyers and producers in global value chains.

The article can be found on the Journal of Industrial Relations website.

Employer Calls to Simplify the Award System are a Trojan Horse

This week an already impressive list of wage theft offenders has gotten a bit longer.

On Monday, the likes of Caltex, 7-Eleven, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza and Bunnings (to name a few), were joined by Coles, which underpaid its staff $20 million over six years.

On Wednesday, Target admitted to underpaying workers about $9 million.

On Thursday, Super Retail Group – whose brands include Rebel and Super Cheap Auto, said that it had short-changed workers by $8 million more than it had originally estimated, bringing the total to $61.2 million.

On Friday, cleaning and catering company Spotless admitted to underpaying workers $4 million.

The total wage theft uncovered this week: $94.2 million.

Continue reading Employer Calls to Simplify the Award System are a Trojan Horse

Update: Open Letter to Coles and Woolworths – Shareholder Resolution

The open letter to Coles and Woolworths was covered by the New Daily and the supermarkets have written a response to our letter. The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), who have been engaging both supermarkets since 2017, have prepared a response to the supermarkets. You can find the response here:

What’s next? A Shareholder Resolution!

Justine Nolan, Laurie Berg and Martijn Boersma have supported a shareholder resolution by ACCR that will be heard at the Coles AGM on the 13th November 2019. You can help by calling on UniSuper to support the resolution. All you need to do is send them a message here. You can use the sample text below, copy and paste, or write your own.

Continue reading Update: Open Letter to Coles and Woolworths – Shareholder Resolution

New book reveals modern slavery is all around us

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It’s estimated that 40.3 million people are enslaved around the world.

For many Australians, the concept of modern-day slavery may seem implausible. But it’s estimated that 40.3 million people are enslaved around the world, more than ever before in human history.

The Global Slavery Index estimates 15,000 people were living in modern slavery in Australia in 2018.

Addressing Modern Slavery examines how consumers, business and government can help eradicate one of the big challenges of our time.

Continue reading New book reveals modern slavery is all around us

Message to Coles, Woolworths: Act now to end modern slavery

The Australian horticultural sector is one of the most at-risk industries for modern slavery.

recent survey by the National Union of Workers among 650 workers found severe underpayments and withholding of wages, excessive overtime, retention of identity documents, threats of and actual physical and sexual violence, and coercive and excessive payments for transport and board.

A group of academics, experts in the area of labour and human rights, modern slavery, and supply chains, have initiated an open letter in which they ask Coles and Woolworths to address labour exploitation and the risk of modern slavery.

Australia’s Modern Slavery Act requires businesses to report yearly on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, the actions taken in response, and the effectiveness of these actions. The first reporting cycle started on July 1.

Unfortunately, although companies and consumers are increasingly aware that modern slavery exists, it is a phenomenon that is often dismissed or misunderstood.

Continue reading Message to Coles, Woolworths: Act now to end modern slavery

“Union Thuggery” Should Not Be Conflated With Misogyny

 

John Setka is a charismatic leader.

He embodies a lot of what the Australian trade union movement stands for: vocal about worker’s rights, visible through industrial action, and intimidating when necessary.

He is the archetype of a union ‘thug’. A big bloke with tattoos who is part of a ‘militant’ trade union. Setka and the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining Energy Union (CFMMEU) regularly push the boundaries of industrial action, incurring $15 million in fines since 2005.

There is nothing wrong with this.

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How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees

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A Senate inquiry has revealed that wage theft and underpayment are so prevalent in some industries that they have become the norm. Around 79% of hospitality employers in Victoria, for instance, did not comply with the national award wage system between 2013 and 2016.

Regulators and unions don’t have the resources to combat this issue, and so we need another method to tackle wage exploitation. One way is to introduce a multi-stakeholder certification scheme, using market forces to reward companies that have committed to fair working conditions and punish those that don’t.

Continue reading How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees