Why Australia’s Millions of Casual Workers Are Facing Redundancies Under New Labor Laws
Labor plans to give casual workers permanent rights Australian industry group says it will start layoffs
Australia’s 2.7 million casual workers are facing layoffs as Labor plans to give them permanent job security, an employers’ group says.
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke announced on Monday that legislation would be introduced giving them the rights and entitlements of permanent staff members if they work regular hours.
‘We’ve had situations, for example, where someone might be given a full-time roster for 12 months, and the contract says they’re casual, then technically they remain casual,’ he told ABC Radio National’s Hamish McDonald.
Under the Labor Scheme, a casual worker will have the right to claim permanent employment after 12 months of employment.
Australia’s 2.7 million casual workers face an uncertain future and are potentially being laid off under a labor plan to give them permanent job security, an employers’ group has said (pictured is a Sydney bartender)
But the Australian Industry Group, which represents 60,000 businesses that employ a million workers, said the proposed legislation could see people sacked as they approach that right and replaced with only other casual workers.
Chief executive Innes Willox, a former Liberal Party activist, argued that bosses were unlikely to retain casual workers in such circumstances unless there were permanent positions and other flexible staffing arrangements.
‘If we make it harder for employers to offer regular work to casual workers it will result in less security, less certainty and less opportunity for workers,’ he said.
‘It doesn’t help anyone if an employer is forced to convert a casual employee into a permanent job when it doesn’t really exist.
‘The real risk is that staff will be laid off down the track.’
But Mr Burke rejected the argument that his proposed legislation would make casual workers more vulnerable rather than safer.
‘You really have to stretch it to get that kind of conclusion,’ he said.
Mr Burke stressed that casual workers would not have an automatic right to claim permanent employment, unless they worked in that role for a long time.
‘I said you wouldn’t be able to make that kind of assessment in the first few months,’ he said.
Mr Burke stressed in a media release that ‘no casuals will be forced to become permanent employees’.
‘But those who desperately want security – and they are being permanently enlisted – will see job security for the first time,’ he said.
There were 2.7 million casual employees in Australia’s labor force, 23 percent of all workers in August 2022, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.
This represents an annual increase of 2.4 per cent but analysis by an Australian industry group found the ratio had changed little since 2014.
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke announced on Monday that legislation would be introduced giving casual workers the right to become permanent if they work regularly.
In 2021 the previous coalition government introduced new legislation to define casual workers under an amendment to the Fair Work Act.
It included provisions forcing employers to offer permanent part-time or full-time work to casuals if they worked regular hours, but labor and unions criticized it at the time as unenforceable.
Mr Willox argued Labour’s proposal was unnecessary.
“What we know about the government’s plans for the cause appears to be a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” he said.
But Mr Burke argued that while many students wanted to remain in casual employment, parents and carers preferred the permanence of employment to casual loading.
‘Increasingly what has happened in the casual workforce is that we have people who are trying to support the whole family,’ he said.