The Federal Government has allayed concerns that tradies will be affected by proposed new Fair Work Commission powers.
A paper from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations involved further regulations for labour hire.
This lead to concerns from stakeholders such as Master Builders Australia that independent contractors or subbies would be affected.
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Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke clarified the proposal is aimed at gig economy labour, such as Uber, Doordash and Airbnb.
When asked by 2GB and Sky whether the regulations would affect subbies, he said “no”.
“Same job, same pay (laws for labour hire workers) you know, it’s a labour hire loophole we’re closing, and the gig economy doesn’t affect them,” he said.
“You don’t go to Uber sparkies or anything like that.”
“You don’t go to Uber sparkies”: Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke assures builders who fear new minimum pay laws for gig workers will undermine independent contractors in construction. https://t.co/QIJb9sxaLC
— David Marin-Guzman (@dmaguz) May 24, 2023
Master Builders Australia acting CEO Shaun Schmitke welcomed what Mr Burke had to say. However, Schmitke said he’d like to see those exclusions in writing.
“Both the ALP’s election policy and consultation paper clearly leave the door open for such an outcome,” he said via AFR.
“If the government intends to limit this proposal to gig-workers only, then it should make it explicitly clear and give an undertaking to exclude industries outside the gig-economy before the legislation is introduced.”