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STATEMENT BY ACTU, SDA & TWU

The Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association and the Transport Workers Union are calling for the re-elected Labor Government to use existing Australian Commonwealth Procurement Rules to prevent public contracts going to multinational corporations like Amazon unless they meet basic standards of ethical conduct both here and overseas.

We welcomed the Labor Government’s decision to legislate a minimum age for access to social media platforms, it was a responsible and widely welcomed move to protect young Australians. It showed that even in the face of pressure from powerful tech giants, governments can — and should — act in the public interest.

But Big Tech isn’t backing down quietly. U.S. tech giants are lobbying the Trump administration to push back against Australia’s efforts to regulate social media and streaming services. We’ve seen this before. When Australia took the step of applying GST fairly to all online retailers, Amazon responded by geoblocking Australian customers. But the Government stood firm — and Amazon conceded just in time to make some money from Black Friday sales.

There’s a clear lesson here: when governments hold the line, tech giants fall into place. When their profits are on the line, they change their behaviour.

So, what behaviours should we demand from Big Tech? And what leverage do we have? The answer is simple: government contracts.

Take Amazon. It’s one of the biggest recipients of public money through its cloud arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS). At the same time, Amazon has one of the worst global reputations for:

  • Tax minimisation: In 2023, Amazon paid just $125 million in tax on $6.6 billion in revenue in Australia — a tax rate under 4%. Much of its profit ends up in tax havens like Luxembourg.
  • Union-busting: When workers in Quebec unionised, Amazon shut down operations, putting thousands out of work rather than engage in good faith bargaining.
  • Worker surveillance: In France, Amazon was fined €32 million for invasive monitoring practices that track workers down to the second — even flagging breaks longer than one minute.

All of this while Amazon benefits from billions and billions in public contracts. In Australia AWS runs data systems for agencies like the Department of Defence, ATO, ABS, CSIRO, Treasury, and more — including a $2 billion deal for Defence alone.

The Australian Commonwealth Procurement Rules are clear: public contracts should not reward suppliers engaged in unethical or unsafe behaviour — including tax avoidance, labour exploitation, or other unethical behaviour. It’s not only about not doing the wrong thing its also about doing the right thing like respecting the rights enshrined in International Labour Organisation conventions such as freedom of association for employees and contractors, their rights to join unions and collectively bargain. These rules should apply not just to a local subsidiary, but to the entire corporate group’s activity around the world.

It’s time the Government used its massive purchasing power to demand higher standards from companies like Amazon.

If you don’t pay your fair share of tax, if you deny workers their rights, if you track every second of their working day — you should not be rewarded with public money.

AWS is not the only option. There are ethical alternatives in providing cloud computing services.

We commend Labor for standing up to Big Tech and regulating social media platforms. Now we call on the Australian Government to enforce its own procurement standards — and use the power of public contracts to raise the bar for corporate conduct, here and around the world.

Ethical behaviour should be the cost of doing business with the Australian people.

Michele O’Neil, ACTU President

                   

 

 

Gerard Dwyer, SDA National Secretary 

 

 

 

Michael Kaine, TWU National Secretary

 

 

 

 

Contacts SDA: Jim Middleton 0418 627066 TWU: Emily Mead 0432 552895 ACTU: Cameron Warasta 0447 159467