Give Aussies a fair go

As the Industry waits for the Federal Government to respond to the Green report into the future of the TCF industry some focus only on the dollars and not on what is a fair deal, writes Michele O'Neil.

The use of taxpayer's money to provide industry support must be conditional on companies keeping and growing Australian manufacturing jobs.

The TCFUA supports the continuation of direct Government assistance to the TCF sector. The TCF post-2005 Strategic Investment Program (SIP) and other schemes have provided necessary and crucial support to the industry during a critical period of restructuring. Add to this the current global financial crisis and it is vital that in 2009 and beyond Government assistance continues to be provided.

However we don't support unconditional Government handouts. Too many times in the past our union has witnessed TCF companies receiving large amounts of Australian tax payer's money only to see them build larger warehouses and move their production offshore.

Or worse still wealthy directors of companies who own multiple businesses receiving government money for a particular business allowing that company to become insolvent, sacking their workers owing them millions of dollars in entitlements and riding off into the sunset to their next business venture without a backwards glance, let alone accountability to the workers and their families (or the Australian taxpayer).

Currently, government assistance under SIP is not linked to ethical manufacturing and, in fact, has been awarded to companies that employ outworkers in breach of award conditions. It is absolutely unacceptable that taxpayers' money goes to such companies. Government funding should not be used to encourage the circumvention of the government's own industrial regulation. This is not only bad policy; it is unethical, does not accord with community expectations about the use of taxpayers' money and damages the image of the industry.

The TCFUA strongly supports a direct assistance scheme to be extended until 2020, with an expansion in the level of funding and an expansion of the eligibility criteria.

Assistance should be directly linked to local employment, company's transparency in their contracting chain and meeting Australian minimum labour and environmental standards.

Companies should also be required to demonstrate that they are meeting all ethical, environmental and labour standards along the contracting chain regardless of whether outsourcing occurs within Australia or overseas.

The TCFUA's major concern with SIP is that there is no linkage between a company receiving Government funds and their commitment to maintaining, or increasing, their level of Australian employment. Companies can receive taxpayer funds to assist their business one day, and sack workers the next.

The TCFUA believes Australian taxpayers would support a linkage between Government funding and employment levels, and in fact would expect such a link to be in place.

SIP remains substantially biased towards larger companies.Small to medium sized businesses make up the overriding majority of the TCF Industry, with 93 per cent of businesses employing less than 20 workers.1 TCF enterprises with fewer than 100 employees employ approximately 73 per cent of manufacturing employees in the industry.2

Of the estimated 9687 Australian TCF businesses in existence at the beginning of the 2006/7 Financial year (ABS (2008), 345 entities received SIP grants ranging from $300 to $6.5 million

Small businesses do not have access to the resources to put in applications. SIP requires a dedication to paperwork and form-filling beyond the resources of the average small business, many of whom are struggling in an increasingly competitive environment. Larger companies have their own employees, or consultants, (or both) focusing on obtaining SIP and associated government funding. Smaller companies will never have this luxury.

The TCFUA is urging the Government to: