Outworkers tell all to panel

As part of the ongoing inquiry into the Fair Work amendment, exploited workers today regaled a committee with stories of their unfair working conditions.

The Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) national secretary, Michele O’Neil, and outworkers Anh Dang and Susan Tran, attended the Senate Education Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee sitting in Melbourne.

In addressing the panel Dang revealed how in the last four years she has worked for one contractor who pays her by the piece, she earns $5 an hour and works 12 hours per day, seven days a week.

Dang also needs to pay working expenses such as electricity, cotton and machine related costs.

Tran, who has been an outworker since 2006 and has two children with learning difficulties, said she receives about $4 an hour.

She explained how she works 12-15 hours per day, the work is not regular and she does not get any overtime when she works weekends. “There was one time I didn’t get paid for four months,” Tran said. “ The amount of those orders was worth about $8,000.”

O'Neil said the TCFUA welcomes the Bill as providing nationally consistent provisions across Australia, and stressed that it is a 'critical safety net' of terms and conditions for workers in the TCF industry who are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.

“For many years some companies have gotten away with shamelessly exploiting workers in the production of their products,” O'Neil said. “Cutting wages and conditions doesn’t lead to improved productivity or more jobs - it just leads to unscrupulous companies making greater profits.”

As part of the ongoing inquiry into the Fair Work amendment, exploited workers today regaled a committee with stories of their unfair working conditions.