David Van voted very strongly against increasing trade unions' powers in the workplace

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Tasmanian Senator Anne Urquhart (Labor), which means it was successful. Motions like these don't make any legal changes on their own but are politically influential because they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) pay and conditions in supply chains are often characterised by a race to the bottom in which companies at the top drive down rates through their economic power,

(ii) in the resource industry, mining companies such as BHP, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance and BHP Mitsui Coal through their tenders for auxiliary work are the ultimate employer in the sector influencing the setting of pay and conditions across the sector,

(iii) workers at Greyhound Resources have in, good faith, engaged in negotiations with their employers for a new enterprise agreement,

(iv) workers at Greyhound Resources exercised their democratic right to take protected industrial action as part of the bargaining process,

(v) Greyhound Resources responded threatening to lock out any and all workers who took part in a legal industrial action, and

(vi) Greyhound Resources carried out this threat and is currently locking out those workers who took part in protected industrial action;

(b) calls on Australian mining companies to recognise their role as the ultimate employer in the sector and their influence on the rates and conditions across their industry; and

(c) supports the workers of Greyhound Resources who are currently locked out by their employer and calls for the end to the lockout so that negotiations can continue in good faith.

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by NSW Senator Jenny McAllister (Labor), which means it failed.

Senator McAllister explained that:

This amendment will ensure that non-registered agreements between workers and employers, which provide workers with additional protections agreed by employers, should be safeguarded in the event of divestment.

In broad terms, 'divestment' is the opposite of investment in that it involves removing money that's been invested in a particular place.

Amendment text

(1) Schedule 1, item 1, page 27 (after line 22), at the end of section 153ZB, add:

(10) If:

(a) a body corporate (the disposing entity) that is a national system employer (within the meaning of the Fair Work Act 2009) is ordered to dispose of interests in securities or assets to a person (the receiving entity); and

(b) a provision of Part 2-8 of that Act would not apply, despite subsection (9), because a workplace instrument (the applicable instrument) that covered the disposing entity and an employee (the applicable employee) of the entity is not a transferable instrument (within the meaning of that Part);

Part 2-8 of that Act applies as if:

(c) a reference to an old employer in that Part included a reference to the disposing entity; and

(d) a reference to a new employer in that Part included a reference to the receiving entity; and

(e) a reference to a transferring employee in that Part included a reference to the applicable employee; and

(f) a reference to a transferable instrument in that Part included a reference to the applicable instrument.

(11) If:

(a) a body corporate (the disposing entity) that is a State public sector employer of a State (within the meaning of the Fair Work Act 2009) is ordered to dispose of interests in securities or assets to a person (the receiving entity) that is a national system employer; and

(b) a provision of Part 6-3A of that Act would not apply, despite subsection (9), because a workplace instrument (the applicable instrument) that covered the disposing entity and an employee (the applicable employee) of the entity is not a State award (within the meaning of that Part);

Part 6-3A of that Act applies as if:

(c) a reference to an old State employer in that Part included a reference to the disposing entity; and

(d) a reference to a new employer in that Part included a reference to the receiving entity; and

(e) a reference to a transferring employee in that Part included a reference to the applicable employee; and

(f) a reference to a State award in that Part included a reference to the applicable instrument.