The Government has secured support from Greens, Lydia Thorpe, David Pocock and the Jacqui Lambie Network to pass large parts of the Closing Loopholes laws.
These rights have been hard fought for by the union movement for years. The new rights include:
1. New rights for labour hire workers (same job, same pay)
2. Criminalising and increasing fines for wage theft
3. Strong new rights for workplace delegates
4. Stronger workplace safety laws, including industrial manslaughter and better rights for injured workers
5. Protections for domestic violence survivors
6. Redundancy rights for those working in small businesses.
We recognise that there are some parts of the bill yet to pass that will significantly impact ASU members. These include:
1. Stronger workplace rights for casual workers
2. Rights for gig workers
3. Stronger laws to criminalise wage thefts
The Government has committed to passing the rest of the Bill early next year and we’ll continue to fight for these changes to be implemented.
This is a huge win for all ASU members, and we should take a moment to celebrate!