Sunday, May 14, 2017
It’s getting close to decision time in the Senate! Remember the 7-Eleven wages fraud scandal exposed by 4Corners/Fairfax late 2015? The scandal has spread since then with Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza, Caltex and United Petroleum being caught out underpaying workers.
The Federal government has put forward legislation (The Vulnerable Workers Bill) that will require franchisors to be at least partly responsible if underpayment occurs. We strongly support the Bill. It will force franchisors to properly support the 79,000 small business franchisees to prevent underpayment.
We’ve talked about the Franchise Council of Australia before. When the current FCA chair Bruce Billson was Shadow Small Business Minister, he said of the franchisors’ body: “The FCA’s advice … is quite unconscionable in its intentional omissions and misrepresentations.” This should raise ‘red flags’ about the FCA’s current opposition to the new law.
We have completed a careful analysis of the core changes the FCA is lobbying to have made to the Bill. We look at the implications of key words and how the FCA changes would neuter the Bill.
In summary we say:
- The current wording of the Vulnerable Workers Bill has the practical effect of requiring franchisors to exercise their responsibility to franchisees.
- The wording of the Bill desired by the Franchise Council of Australia would enable franchisors to avoid their responsibility to franchisees.
- This FCA version would ‘dump’ all responsibility onto franchisees and remove franchisors from responsibility. It would weaken the Australian franchise system because it weakens the support that franchisors are supposed to supply to franchisees.
- The FCA’s version is harmful not only to the 79,000 small business franchisees in Australia but to their thousands of workers as well.
We are putting in a strong effort asking Senators to pass the Bill substantially as is.