20 January 2018

...Amazon has a global contract with Adecco to supply workers...hired through the labour-hire firm.

...[T]he Fair Work Act...allows collective bargaining with the workers’ direct employer, in this case Adecco, but not the ultimate employing entity that controls their work.

...“We can’t bargain with Amazon because, technically, they don’t have any employees [within scope], so the workers are locked into low-quality low-pay work.” ...Amazon also face problems such as irregular work, shift cancellations at late notice and short shift lengths.

...Amazon ignored a request...to meet the union so there is “no strong engagement”....

A spokeswoman for Amazon says...[l]abour hire is used “to enable us to move quickly, access talent and manage variations in customer demand”.

...“Labour hire is a tactic that corporations use to organise their workforce and keep them out of the collective bargaining system....”

...Barring big changes to bargaining laws to allow direct negotiation with the ultimate employing entity, the solution in the short term will be for unions such as the NUW to organise the workforce of the labour-hire firms.

“Amazon will avoid collectively dealing with unions until the bitter end...[t]hey’re going to be difficult, but not insurmountable.”