Rugendyke and liberals abandon cleaners over long service leave
31 August 2001
Ginninderra MLA Dave Rugendyke has turned his back on some of Canberra’ most vulnerable workers; workers in the cleaning industry, Labor Shadow Employment Minister Wayne Berry said today.
A Canberra firm is reported to have moved to force its workers onto individual contracts. This move threatens access to workers’ compensation, long service leave, sick leave and superannuation coverage and normal wages for cleaners.
In response to this Labor Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Wayne Berry moved in the ACT Legislative Assembly to amend the cleaning industry long service leave legislation to ensure that these workers retain their rights to long service leave.
"Mr Rugendyke’s lack of support for my move to maintain access to long service leave benefits for these 70 cleaning workers is a cruel irony,” Mr Berry said, “Mr Rugendyke was a key supporter of my move to set up the scheme in the first place.
"His lack of support for this amendment is a disappointment for cleaners who were in line to benefit from the original legislation – 70 of them will miss out because Mr Rugendyke failed to support moves to block employers from withdrawing this scheme.
"A strong point of the Long Service Leave (Cleaning Industry) Act 1999 was that all cleaning industry employers would be prevented from manipulating long service leave benefits for a cost advantage in tendering arrangements - this meant a level playing field for all, and workers would not be screwed by unscrupulous employers.
"On top of this Mr Rugendyke and the Liberals voted against my amendments to the Workers’ Compensation Act to prevent employers from avoiding workers compensation premiums and obligations. This could lead to workers being forced to take out personal sickness and accident insurance, at high costs to themselves to cover them in the workplace," Mr Berry concluded.