"[A] Labor government will tackle the issues in the workplace relations system that are contributing to wage stagnation – the modern precariousness of work, widespread underpayment of workers, and declining collective bargaining," he says. Mr O'Connor will say there were more than 1.6 million temporary visa holders with work rights in Australia who should not be used as "cheap labour". He says it was not surprising many Australians felt insecure in their jobs when work was being outsourced. He says no worker on a skilled visa should be doing a job for a day longer than it takes to train an Australian worker. "Local workers should always be given the first shot at local jobs," he says. Labor introduced the Fair Work Act in 2009 and the national union movement have called for it to be overhauled in favour of workers. Mr O'Connor says the labour market had changed at a pace in ways which the ALP could not have predicted.

"As a result, many people’s experience of work is more precarious," he says. Mr O'Connor says a casual worker of 12 years had told him she had no security of employment from one roster to the next, no security of income, and little power to change the situation. "She also told me about her employer’s increasing use of labour hire – about how a harmonious workplace has turned fractious because workers doing the same job side by side are being paid different wages, and because fewer workers feel that they have any real connection with or input into the business they work for," he says. "I remember the time when corporate employers used to give their employees bonuses at Christmas – to show them how much their contribution to the company was valued. Mr O'Connor says larger employers and corporations were outsourcing their labour to smaller employers – through franchises, subsidiaries and related corporate entities, subcontracting, independent contracting and labour hire.

This meant it was less likely a worker was employed by the economic decision maker. "Their wages are effectively set by the head of the chain, not by their direct employer," he says. "It makes it harder for workers to collectively bargain, because although they may work at the same site or in the same business, it is not necessarily for the same employer. "It can also set up a situation where the only point of competitive tension in the industry is the cost of labour." Labor has committed to restoring penalty rates and ensuring they could not be cut again, stopping the use of labour hire by employers to undermine pay and conditions of direct employees and introducing a national labour hire licensing scheme. Labor would also introduce a new legal definition of casual, increased penalties for underpayment of wages and a tighter definition of sham contracting.

Minister for Jobs and Industrial Relations Kelly O’Dwyer said during Labor’s time in office around one in eight manufacturing jobs disappeared. "In contrast, under the Coalition, around 93,000 new jobs were created in the manufacturing industry over the last year alone," she said. “Whilst Labor is focused on the jobs of union bosses, the government is focused on the jobs of Australian workers.”