Casual workers to have a new pathway to become permanent
More than 850,000 casual workers across Australia will have a new pathway to permanent employment under proposed industrial relations changes set to be introduced to parliament. The government says the planned change closes a legal "loophole" that keeps some people classified as casuals despite working regular permanent hours.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Well, Lorna, there are 2.5 million casual workers in this country, so it certainly touches
00:06 a lot of people's lives.
00:07 According to the government, over 850,000 of these casual workers are in this situation,
00:13 and that is someone who works permanent full-time hours, day in and day out, week after week,
00:18 but are still classified technically as casual workers.
00:21 The difference, of course, is that as a casual, you're missing out on a whole slew of benefits,
00:27 including financial security, leave entitlements, job stability, reliable rostering, etc.
00:33 These new reforms proposed by the government are promising a clear definition that determines
00:38 who can be classified as a casual worker, and in turn, a way for them to ensure they
00:43 can become permanent if they choose to do so.
00:46 Emphasis here on choosing.
00:48 Why would someone not want to be permanent?
00:51 The answer is, we know casual workers get casual loading.
00:54 That's extra money in their pockets, which some may not want to lose.
00:57 There are other reasons, of course.
00:59 Students might like the flexibility of taking hours based on their classes or when they're
01:03 on holiday.
01:04 This is why the government is making it clear that these changes won't force anyone to become
01:08 permanent, if they don't want to.
01:10 They're only optional, and it's up to the employee rather than the employer to ask for
01:17 it.
01:18 That might need some more clarification as well at this point.
01:21 Now, one of the major differentiating factors between this and what's currently in the rules
01:26 is that employers are compelled to offer a permanent contract to casual workers on full-time
01:31 hours after 12 months.
01:32 But with this, it might be as early as six months.
01:36 Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says this new legislation, which was an election
01:40 promise for labor, will close loopholes that allow for casual workers to be exploited by
01:46 employers who don't offer them all the benefits in return for having a reliable workforce.
01:53 Here's what he had to say this morning.
01:55 I want to go back to what the definition always was before a couple of years ago, and that's
02:00 a practical definition where effectively you ask, "What's really going on?"
02:05 If you are working a regular shift that doesn't change, and you and the employer know that's
02:12 the shift, and you would like to say, "I'd rather switch out the loading and get leave
02:18 instead so that I know my hours are locked in, and so that if a child's sick, I can take
02:24 a day off without wondering whether or not I'll be able to pay the bills that week,"
02:29 that's something that should be available for Australian workers.
02:31 Okay, so Nabil, what reaction has there been to these expected changes?
02:36 Well, definitely mixed reactions.
02:39 We know that this is something that the trade unions have been asking for for a while.
02:43 Secretary of the Australia Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, spoke this morning,
02:47 and she said that the current rules, the way they're set up, allow employers to write whatever
02:52 they like in contracts, and that that's not objectively right.
02:57 This is, of course, somewhat expectedly countered by the business sector of a different view.
03:02 Andrew McKellar, Chief Executive of the Australia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that
03:07 these new rules being proposed by the government would remove flexibility and add uncertainty
03:12 to employer relations.
03:14 Some have claimed that it will add operational costs to business, which is a concern for
03:21 the different industries, but Minister Burke was quick to dispel that notion today.
03:25 I don't see in a million years how this can add cost to business, because instead of paying
03:32 the loading, you pay leave. You never pay both. You pay one or the other, and they're
03:37 calculated to offset each other.
03:41 What's certain is that this legislation, which is expected to be introduced in Parliament
03:45 later this year, will affect a large, sizeable chunk of the Australian workforce, casual
03:51 workers who might be facing these conditions. And it's important to say that not everyone
03:57 might want to do this. According to the minister, it could be just a little bit over 1 to 2
04:01 per cent of the casual workforce who might take up that option.
04:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]