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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/09/permanent-casual-labor-new-ir-laws-workers>
"For five years, Sandy has been part of the class of workers who, despite
working 30 to 40 hours a week, go without sick or holiday pay.
In that time, the 47-year-old casual employee says he has only taken one day
off – when his mother had a heart attack. Home ownership has also remained out
of reach due to the difficulty getting a loan from the bank as a casual.
“This is the gift of casualisation,” he says.
But that could soon change for Sandy and thousands of others. On Thursday, the
Albanese government passed its second tranche of workplace reforms, which
included a pathway for casuals to convert to a permanent role if they wish to
do so.
The laws were backed by unions but opposed by some employer groups that claimed
they would make it more unattractive to hire casuals and hamper flexibility for
workers.
Prof John Buchanan, a industrial relations expert at the University of Sydney,
says the broader reforms – which also include improved rights for gig economy
workers – are a “huge win” for employees and signalled to employers they must
be more accountable.
He says the casual conversion laws may help break the oxymoron of the
“permanent casual”, which has become entrenched in Australia’s workplaces.
“What employers had done was they said, ‘Well, we want to call you a casual
because that means we can sidestep big obligations around leave pay, and in
some cases, long service leave, and avoid redundancy rights’, so [the changes]
are a pretty big deal,” he says.
There are 2.5 million casual workers in Australia, accounting for almost a
quarter of the workforce, while an estimated 850,000 of those have regular work
arrangements, according to the industrial relations minister, Tony Burke.
The new laws will ensure workers who are hired as casuals but work regular or
predictable shifts are offered to switch to a permanent role. They will be able
to apply for conversion after six months of regular working arrangements, and
after 12 months if hired by a small business."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
