The ACTU today launched a new campaign that will target flexible work arrangements including on-hire and casual work, and encourage employers to increase their ratio of permanent employees.
"Insecure workers have told us they want a job they can rely on. This campaign will speak up for this large, often disenfranchised sector of the workforce and work towards change for the better," said ACTU president Ged Kearney.
"Insecure work is about employers creating a way to shift costs from employers onto workers, and it is spreading into sectors that were once seen as havens for permanent and secure jobs, like education, manufacturing and construction".
An ACTU spokesperson told Shortlist that plans for the campaign were still being finalised but would involve meeting with businesses, government and the community, as well as public elements, like today's launch.
"Unions are already campaigning in their own industries to improve job security, but today we are beginning a national conversation with workers, with civil society, with government and with business to find effective solutions to the spread of insecure work across the workforce," said Kearney.
Labour hire arrangements targeted
In a report released today, the ACTU said employment responsibility was uncertain in many labour-hire relationships, and this made it more complicated and difficult for workers to access their rights and entitlements.
"There is no obligation upon employers to provide labour hire workers with wages and conditions of work that are equal to those provided to a directly-employed worker. Many labour-hire workers are employed on a casual or contracting basis, with associated problems of low pay, no job security, inferior conditions of employment and an absence of skill development and training," it said.
The report said that workers in casual and labour hire work also faced greater risk of occupational injuries and illnesses.
"Research also shows that labour hire workers are less likely to be satisfied with their job security, pay and job overall".
The report outlined the ACTU's plan for insecure work reform which included:
Bargaining for better wages and conditions and job security;
Improving standards via awards and legislation;
Pushing for mechanisms - such as casual conversion provisions and changing the definitions of types of work in awards and legislation - to limit non-permanent employment;
Boosting enforcement;
Increasing government’s role as a model employer and promoter of best practice;
Ensuring government contracts foster secure employment; and
Drawing on regulatory initiatives overseas that could be adopted in Australia.
The report added that the campaign would have the following objectives:
Providing fair and predictable pay and hours of work;
Giving workers a say in "how, where and when" they work and a right to be consulted about change;
Ensuring access to annual leave, paid sick leave, overtime, penalty rates and long service leave; and
Securing "quality" skills and training and career opportunities; and
Guaranteeing safe and healthy work.
Campaign a marketing ploy, not genuine solution
RCSA CEO Steve Granland said that the ACTU campaign had misread the bulk of the Australian workforce, who chose non-permanent work for a range of reasons.
"If so many Australian workers want permanent employment, why is there virtually no evidence of casual employees electing to convert to permanent employment, when given the opportunity under many awards?" said Granland.
"To superimpose ongoing permanent employment on businesses which cannot sustain such employment in volatile social and economic times is to do workers themselves no favours, and will pressure businesses into looking at other ways of getting the work done, either offshore or through outsourcing," he said.
"RCSA has, on several occasions, written to the ACTU seeking to establish dialogue on solutions to their concerns but they fail to take up the offer, which can only lead us to believe that this campaign is simply an ACTU marketing campaign rather than one genuinely looking to find solutions."
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