Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Conference

CAIRNS

I want to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the lands that we are meeting on today and pay my respects to their elders past and present. I extend my respect to any First Nations people who are joining us today.

I would like to acknowledge Steve Murphy, National Secretary, and Glenn Thompson National President of the AMWU.

And acknowledge the organisers, delegates and rank and file members of the AMWU who make a significant contribution to the wider labour movement.

The Prime Minister has passed on his apologies for not being able to attend your national conference.

As a regular speaker at AMWU conferences and a proud member of this mighty union, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been a decision he took lightly.

He has asked me as the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations to represent him, and it is an honour and a privilege to address a room filled with people who are part of our great labour movement.

I want to acknowledge the consistent, determined, and fierce advocacy of this union on behalf of workers across the manufacturing sector. From the factory floor to the organising teams and all the way to your union leadership.

Our Labor Government believes it is critical to work alongside your union and the broader union movement to deliver a fairer society.

For Australia to seize the opportunities of the next decade, for our nation to generate the energy, skills, jobs, technology, and investment that will power our future prosperity. We need your union to be at the table sharing your expertise and advocating for your members.

As Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and as a former union organiser, I understand the role of unions in ensuring workers get a fair deal.

But it didn’t take me to get appointed to this position or even work for a union to make this clear to me.

When I was 14, I got my first ever position working as a Retail Assistant.

In my first ever job I learnt two lessons very quickly.

The first was that Governments matter because industrial relations laws they make in Canberra had a profound on my day to day working life.

The second lesson was that unions were essential to both fighting for my rights and protecting my job.

In 1998 following the Coalition’s first wave of regressive reforms to industrial relations laws, as a 19-year-old my teammates and I were handed an individual contract – enabled by John Howard’s laws, which included scrapping many important conditions at work including completely scrapping tea breaks.

Despite the Howard Government professing that a worker could negotiate these contracts, my teammates and I were told they were ‘take or leave it’ contracts.

That phrase underpinned the whole structure framework of our workplace relations system for many Australian workers for the next nine years.

The laws were used to cut conditions and make things harder for workers.

It was my union at the time that took up the fight for me to first try get a better outcome and secondly get my job back when I was unfairly dismissed because I stood up for my rights.

It is not lost on me that I now hold the responsibility as the steward of Australia’s workplace relations laws that I know has such a direct impact on workers.

I am proud to be a part of a Labor team, where workers and their unions will always have a seat at the table. That is in Labor’s DNA.

Today, I will be touching on the achievements our Government has made in our first term and both in the portfolio of Workplace Relations and across our Government.

In 2022, The Albanese Labor Government was elected on a promise to get wages moving, improve job security and close the gender pay gap – and we are delivering on these promises.

We are seeing a return to real wages growth, we are creating more secure jobs, and we are closing the gender pay gap. After taking action and introducing laws like Secure Jobs Better Pay and the two Closing Loopholes bills.

At the end of the day, when the rubber hits the road, the key difference between the Labor and Liberal ideology is how we value working people and their labour. 

Former Liberal Minister for Finance, Matthias Cormann even admitted that low wages were a ‘deliberate design feature of their economic architecture’.

Labor has been ambitious in changing the workplace relations system, because we fundamentally believe in a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.

Compare this to the Coalition which presided over a completely broken bargaining system that sidelined working people. They had stacked the Fair Work Commission with employer representatives and removed crucial workplace protections.

The Albanese Labor Government’s changes to Workplace Relations legalisation are delivering improved outcomes for working people.

Like in the Same Job, Same Pay law where after our changes, thousands of people across Australia now getting up to 60K extra in their pay packets per year.

Or the Right to Disconnect which a recent HR Institute survey found that more than half of employers say the new right to disconnect law has improved employee engagement and productivity.

You just know that the other side of politics didn’t even have to read what was in our legislation before voting against it and screaming about how the sky would fall in. But guess what? Proof points like these show it hasn’t.

After we introduced Closing Loopholes and Secure Jobs Better Pay, we needed unions to take up the laws and use them to deliver better wages and more secure jobs.

Your union was one of the first to do that.

Your union has been at the forefront of using the new laws to get better outcomes for working people.

Your union was the first to take up our Multi Employer Bargaining laws in the private sector across air-conditioning manufacturing in NSW and the ACT.

The agreement is delivering pay rises of 26 per cent over four years for workers in manufacturing.

Better wages and working conditions for workers on that agreement.

My predecessor, Minister Burke, spoke of the story of Josh, an AMWU member, in Parliament when the agreement was made.

Josh said he was earning $100 a week extra with further pay rises to come. Josh said that ‘it’s not just better for us; it’s better for the bosses too’ ‘they can do the right thing by their workers now and not be undercut by dodgy operators’.

These outcomes clearly outline that workers are getting improved wages, better conditions across an entire industry, without the sky falling in.

Additionally, our laws to promote workplace bargaining so workers get a better deal are working, again quite the contrary to what many opponents said would happen.

The latest figures from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations show that nearly 2.5 million Australians are covered by current enterprise agreements, the highest recorded since enterprise bargaining commenced in 1991.

Agreements mean a better deal for working people, better wages and conditions and more cooperative, productive workplaces.

That is why our Government collective agreements that reflect union wages and conditions through our public projects and investments.

The work that union delegates do across workplaces is the foundation of the labour movement.

Being a workplace delegate is a serious responsibility; you are at the frontline of advocating improvements to wages and conditions for your fellow workmates.

None of the changes we made in the previous term of Government would be possible if we didn’t have union delegates, bringing your shop floor experience and knowledge to Government.

Through the work our Government has done in the Closing Loopholes legislation, delegates now have explicit rights and protections under the Fair Work Act, strengthening their ability to perform their important role.

These changes matter as they strengthen collective representation in workplaces, help ensure fair negotiations and dispute resolution, while also promoting transparency and accountability in employer-employee relations.

As the Prime Minister has said, we must make more things here in Australia. And he has shown his commitment to this.

The Prime Minister backed over 1000 workers at Whyalla Steelworks and saved local jobs by ensuring the future of the steelworks.

Action was critical not only to save jobs in South Australia but because it is in our nation’s interest that we have structural steel making capacity in this country. This is what backing Australian workers looks like. And this is what Building Australia’s Future looks like.

It also reminded me of 2013, when my state faced a similar situation, with Holden on the verge of closing - Do you remember what the Liberal and National government did? 

They dared Holden to leave.

And you know what happened? Holden left… along with our car manufacturing industry.

This is why Labor Governments matter.

The AMWU have been at the forefront of the Future Made in Australia push.

Your union has been instrumental in paving the way to support highly skilled and well-paid jobs for current workers, and for generations to come.

In the 2024-25 Budget, the Labor Government pledged almost $23 billion over the next decade to build a Future Made in Australia, because we make and produce products that Australia should be proud of and should continue to do so.

The Future Made in Australia agenda is about value adding to our resources and strengthening economic security, backing Australian ideas and investing in our workforce, and our communities.

We made a deliberate decision that The Future Made in Australia must have Community Benefit Principles that deliver secure, highly paid jobs that benefit workers, industries and communities.

If we are making significant Government investments, we want workers to be the ones to benefit.

We have also established the National Reconstruction Fund, a $15 billion investment into Australia’s manufacturing capabilities.

Because we know that Australia has a highly skilled, competitive workforce that can turn our country into a manufacturing superpower.

And in this term of Government we will expand on what we have already done, working to make sure that workers and their unions have a say in identifying investment opportunities. You know your industry better than anyone else.

Of course, we need a plan to power our Future Made in Australia to sustain a thriving manufacturing sector.

The world is moving to meet a net zero transition, and Australia should be at the forefront to meet consumer expectations, and reap the benefits of a low-emission economy.

But, we do not have to deindustrialise to decarbonise.

Like you, the Albanese Labor Government believes that this is an opportunity to create thousands of good, secure and high-quality jobs for AMWU members and lock in future prosperity.

Our Government commits to working with the AMWU to build a transition that puts workers at the centre.

Your union has already paved the way and shown us what transition looks like that benefits workers, communities and bosses. The work you have already done in communities like Collie lays down an important blueprint for the Government.

In our last term we already paved the way for this after ten years of inaction under the Coalition.

We are committed to making sure that it is not just ‘clean energy investors’ benefitting from this new opportunity.

Our Government has established a Net Zero Economy Authority to work with unions and communities to ensure that town by town, worker by worker you will get a share in the dividends.

And we’ll keep working with the Net Zero Economy Authority so it can facilitate investment manufacturing in priority regions.

This investment will lay the groundwork for workers to benefit for generations to come.

To meet our goals of a low emissions economy, with well-paid jobs for Australians. We must invest in skills and vocational education to ensure we have the workforce for the future.

The Labor Government believes that being able to train, retrain and upskill in priority areas, without added financial barriers to individual workers, is changing the lives of individual Australians.

Unlike Liberal Governments of the past, I think it’s important to make clear: whether you chose to go to university or chose to go TAFE or into vocational education and training – our Government has your back.

In fact, one of the most significant investments we have made in our people is through Vocational and Educational Training and in particular TAFE which is key pathway for people to access secure well-paid jobs.

This is what will allow us to rewire our nation, invest in new renewable storage and generation capacity, revitalise manufacturing and develop clean industries because we will need many more highly skilled tradespeople including engineers, builders, electricians and other technical skills.

Since coming to Government, we have focussed on transforming the sector, placing TAFE at its heart.

Through initiatives such as Fee-Free TAFE, we are delivering benefits and opportunities to people who have been traditionally denied them, and skilling people for the jobs of the future.

Compare this to the Coalition, Sussan Ley when speaking about our Fee-Free TAFE plan that; “if you don’t pay for something, you don’t value it.”

They have never valued making sure that working people can upskill and retrain.

The Labor Government, in partnership with states and territories, is delivering $1.5 billion in funding for over 500,000 Fee-Free TAFE and VET places across Australia from 2023 to 2026.

Regardless of your background, how much money your family has, everyone deserves access to training to secure a good job with good wages.

This is a core Labor value, this is why we invest in TAFE.

This Government sees investing in women’s trades and apprenticeships as critical in supporting a thriving manufacturing sector.

The Building Women’s Careers grants – that the AMWU is a successful applicant of – aims to target the structural and cultural barriers to women’s participation in advanced manufacturing and clean energy industries across Australia.

The first initiative will involve partnering with dozens of companies with the support of community organisations to improve flexibility, workplace culture and gender equity in workplaces.

The second initiative aims to collaborate with TAFEs and industry to evaluate VET courses to identify barriers and deliver and promote flexible training and co-designed pathways for women into apprenticeships and technical roles.

Now as your National Secretary has pointed out – women in the AMWU have led the way in shattering barriers for women in male dominated industries.

These grants are designed to ensure women are getting a fair go and can reap the rewards of well paid, secure jobs in manufacturing.

In our first term we delivered an ambitious agenda, which upset a lot of our opponents. But our priority was to get wages moving and improve job security.

Since we were first elected, we have seen real wages growth for the last year and a half, after a decade of low wages under the Coalition Government.

Unemployment remains low and the Government is creating over one million jobs, which is a higher rate of growth than any advanced economy.

We have seen the gender pay gap at record lows. All whilst bringing down inflation.

Challenges, of course, remain.

Next month, the Treasurer is hosting an Economic Reform Roundtable, where he will discuss with businesses, employers, and unions ways to improve productivity.

I want to be clear. In addressing how we boost productivity in our country, it has never been and will never be the solution to make workers do more for less.

A key part of addressing productivity is ensuring that workers have access to education and training, including on the job training.

But more importantly – we have a healthy workforce, and workplaces are safe and cooperative.

For it is only together we will achieve an Australia that is prosperous, inclusive and rewarding for every worker for generations to come.

Friends, fellow union members, I look forward to continuing to work with you. Thank you.