Did you hear about Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke’s plan, released this morning, to convert casual workers to permanent, stripping them of the benefits of working casually, simultaneously both cutting wages and increasing business costs and causing widespread unemployment?
Employers are keen to let you know how awful it is. The Business Council of Australia (BCA) says it “would engulf businesses, particularly small businesses, in red tape and paperwork“. The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) says the changes would “inevitably increase business costs and risks, reduce investment and reduce employment”, and were “unfathomable and economically dangerous”. Wesfarmers attacked the changes.
A recurring word in the business lamentation is “flexibility” — a word Jennifer Westacott of the BCA used nine times in an op-ed. Ai Group’s chief executive Innes Willox preferred “agility” and Wesfarmers also went with “flexibility”.
If you believe employers, the government is planning to force people to stop working as casuals and sign on as permanent employees.
“Restricting casual employment would make it harder for people to access a form of work that delivers the financial benefit of a 25% casual loading and the capacity to take on additional work when it suits them,” Willox wrote. “These statistics highlight that it would be folly and unfair for the government to introduce restrictions on casual employment that would harm businesses and employees.”
None of this seems to accord with the changes actually proposed by Burke, which involve casuals who’ve been employed on full-time hours for six months to have the option to convert to permanent employment. By common agreement, only a small fraction of casuals — 1% to 2% according to one employer group — will decide to trade in the higher pay from leave loading for actual leave and certainty.
It’s also hard to see how any business costs would be increased in moving from paying leave loading to paying leave — in fact, Willox seems to want us to believe that the changes would simultaneously take 25% leave loading away from casuals and push up business costs.
What the changes do mean is that casual workers who are working effectively as permanent full-time employees would have, erm, flexibility to swap leave loading for greater job security — rather than employers having the flexibility to keep people working as full-time employees as casuals.
Once again, it seems employers love flexibility, but only when it’s flexibility for them.
As a university employee (fixed-term contracts, not casual), I like to think I work for a progressive, caring organisation. So it was profoundly depressing to watch my university (and most of the others) dump the casuals in a heartbeat as soon as the pandemic loomed on the horizon.
It was even more depressing to watch the university squeal, wriggle and obfuscate during our Enterprise Agreement bargaining earlier this year, when the NTEU tried to get them to commit to giving better conversion rights and de-casualizing the workforce. They are addicted to casuals, SO much easier to hire, fire and intimidate.
Surprised anyone still held those views by 2020. I salute your optimism !
The business lobby always want controlling behaviours over their employees. They hate the fact that we may get some flex back our way.
The word “Flexible” in my industry is a synonym of “Slave” to my employer. They just want at any expense to our health and well being.
Corps hiding profits behind partnerships with Charity sector/ Not For profit- whilst indenturing people and mature women on “mutual obligations” – indenturing modern slavery via volunteering and oromoted by third party data pirates ; using fodder as value adding data silos.
Yes. And they wonder why productivity is down. It’s a human trait that if you feel unloved and unwanted – why would you give a toss.
There has always been slave owners and there are still are – only they are limited by legislation today.
It’s so predictable from business groups. Even the slightest change to the status quo will produce Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor at high volume, and a weeping, ranting and rending of garments, accompanied by the Greek Chorus of the Fin and Sky.
Not to mention the liberals. Cash on the radio this morning was hilarious.
My son, with a BA and BSc and Cert IV in IT, started working on a contract basis for a Commonwealth agency in 2017. He has been working with them ever since, on a series of rolling contracts. His current contract expires at the end of the year but he has already been told it will be renewed.
The agency was prevented from hiring permanent employees by the Abbott/Hockey caps on permanent APS employment 9 years ago, which is also why so many employees of the Big 4 Mafiauditors are embedded in the APS.
The APS is supposed to be a model employer. Accordingly, it should lead the way and reinstate the provision from a decade ago whereby a casual/contract employee is given the option of permanency. Let’s see if Tony Burke will put our money where his mouth is.
The New Neo Con labor – with Jim labeling voluntary female indenturing to ” Charity Sector” – enslaving people -stesling data and agency
Recognise that, the ‘Wrecking Crew’ to ensure little if any inside expertise in future, to make APS subservient to imported US ideology or ‘Kochonomics’ via IPA & LNP.
At the upper end, middle management acquaintances in PS retire for healthy defined benefits &/or super, claim to be indispensable, then are allowed to subcontract back in and build up super accounts (also some seem uneasy with a long retirement in the suburbs….).
Meanwhile, lower end and new starters are casuals….often employed/recruited via labour firms and have little if any possibility of upward mobility.
Have heard similar complaints in the Vic TAFE system too….. at least catering to older/senior end of staff who have retired, with consulting contracts etc.
I hope it also applies to permanent part-time employees as well. I sometimes assist refugees and migrants with job-search.
A year or so ago, a woman I had helped several years previously to gain a permanent part-time job as a personal care attendant at a private hospital in Melbourne contacted me in a panic to help her look for work again. She and the three other permanent part-time staff had just been redundant after 8 years.
They were all told that the hospital would welcome them back in 6 months time, but they would be casual, like all the other more recent employees.
It was not long after Labor was elected and started making noises about cleaning up casual employment.
It always struck me that the hospital was clearing the decks before Labor got stuck into employment rorts and reduced their ‘flexibility’ as an employer.
Thats a common practice modus operandi in major once Catholic hospital group too ! Bullying ; dodgy education profiteering , abusive and inept dangerous unethical management power tripoers
Rotten mongrels. It’s frightening, the crap employers can pull. They have all the power while employees have none.
That hospital should be named and shamed.