Casual workers back on the union agenda

UNIONS have begun a renewed push for secure jobs with conversion of casual workers to permanent employment at the top of the agenda.

On World Day for Decent Work today, the ACTU has announced it will be using the current review of Modern Awards to embed a mechanism to convert casuals to permanency in all Awards for all types of workers.

The move, which has been attacked by employer groups, picks up on one of the key concerns about the casualisation of the workforce identified by the national inquiry into insecure work headed by former Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe in 2012.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said it was unfair that many casuals work regular shifts and rosters but miss out on important entitlements like sick leave and annual leave.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are 2.2 million casual workers in Australia, or about 19% of the workforce.

“People are not just tools for employers to use — they have lives and families and deserve to be given the respect of decent, secure work,” Ms Kearney said.

“Casual employees, even if they are working regular hours, live with the knowledge that their jobs are not secure. This makes it harder for them to get loans, rent a house and get access to training and promotion opportunities.”
No extra cost for employers
Ms Kearney said the clause would be cost neutral for employers, as businesses already pay a casual loading in place of entitlements to sick leave and annual leave, so making people permanent would simply give workers those entitlements at no extra cost.

Nor was the proposed change targeted at genuine casuals such as students who work irregular shifts in bars or restaurants, she said.

“This is about the teachers, receptionists, disability support and aged care workers who are already genuinely working permanent hours and deserve to have that recognised,” the ACTU President said.

“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck — it’s not a rooster. These workers are permanent in all but name and recognition of entitlements.”

Some Awards already have conversion clauses, usually after a set period of continual and regular employment, such as six or 12 months on the same roster, but employers have found ways around them over the years.

Further details of the ACTU claim are expected to be released when it is officially lodged with the Fair Work Commission in about a month.
A global problem
The inadequacies of current casual conversion clauses were identified by the Howe Inquiry in 2012, which found that their effectiveness was limited by several factors, including employers’ discretion to refuse conversion and the rise of labour hire.

It also found that for reasons often beyond their control, casuals sometimes preferred to receive the extra income from their loading.

“Their limited success also owes something to the fact that many low paid workers are in such fear of losing their job altogether they are unwilling to access the conversion process,” the inquiry’s report, Lives On Hold, said.

“Casual workers are also often underemployed, meaning that they can’t afford to choose between their casual loading and the benefits permanency would offer — particularly paid annual and personal leave and more security in working hours and income.”

Rather than more casual conversion clauses after a fixed period of employment, as now sought by the ACTU, the Howe Inquiry proposed a slightly different “gradual deeming” mechanism under which casual employees incrementally accrue access to rights and entitlements currently only available to permanent employees.

A similar model has been in use in the United Kingdom for several years.

The Howe Inquiry report was released at the ACTU Congress in May 2012, which endorsed a national campaign on secure jobs. But that campaign was later sidelined as the ACTU focussed on other priorities.

Insecure work also has an international focus today with IndustriALL Global Union using the message boosting tool Thunderclap to communicate the dangers of precarious work to a wider global audience.

IndustriALL says multinational companies and other forces are undermining regular, permanent and direct employment.