The Victorian Greens have accused Labor of treating workers’ rights as a political plaything, after reports the Carroll Government has deliberately decided against bringing Parliament back to deal with its work-from-home laws because it would rather turn them into an election wedge.
Labor has spent more than a year promising Victorians a legislated right to work from home, repeatedly declaring it a major new right for working people and families – but after watering down its own bill and caving to big business, Labor has now reportedly decided not to schedule an additional sitting week that could allow Parliament to consider the legislation after a committee reports on 20 October.
Instead, Labor sources have reportedly said the government wants to turn the issue into an election fight. The Greens have called for Parliament to be recalled to give workers the rights they were promised.
As stated by the Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:
“Workers’ rights are not an election prop for the Labor Party to pick up and put down whenever it suits their political strategy.
“Victorians will be right to think that using WFH has a political wedge was Labor’s intention all along, because if they really cared about protecting workers’ right to work-from-home, they’d recall Parliament like the Greens have called on them to do.”
As stated by the Victorian Greens Workers Rights’ spokesperson, Aiv Puglielli:
“Labor has spent more than a year telling workers this was a fundamental right. They then buckled to the business lobby and watered their own laws down, and now we learn they would rather keep this issue alive as an election wedge than actually do everything they can to get the laws passed.
“Workers rights shouldn’t be reduced to a cynical political game between Labor and the Liberals. Workers have been dragged through months of announcements while Labor has repeatedly changed its position. Now the government reportedly has the option of bringing Parliament back after the committee reports and has simply decided not to.
“You cannot spend a year declaring yourself the great defender of working people and then decide their rights are more useful to you as campaign material than as law. Labor needs to stop playing politics with workers’ lives and start treating workers’ rights with the seriousness they deserve.
“For workers who depend on these laws to access work-from-home, rights delayed are rights denied. So what Labor is really saying here, is they don’t actually support work-from-home. Only the Greens are committed to getting these laws passed and protecting workers in this state.”
