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Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Page: 217

Senator THISTLETHWAITE (New South Wales) (20:42): Over recent decades in Australia there has been a dramatic increase in insecure and precarious employment. It is much more difficult these days for hard-working, highly skilled Austra­lians to gain a secure job. Right now, 40 per cent of Australians are employed in insecure work—that is, jobs with irregular and unpredictable working hours and pay; inferior rights and entitlements, including limited or no access to paid leave; and no job security. These are jobs that do not require notice of termination or redundancy payments.

To combat this staggering rise in insecure employment the Australian Council of Trade Unions has launched its Secure Jobs, Better Future campaign. This is a national campa­ign aimed at improving the rights and working lives of the members of the Australian workforce employed in insecure work. As part of this process there will be an independent inquiry headed by former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Brian Howe, with hearings to take place all across this great country. The inquiry will examine not only the prevalence of precarious employment but also the effects on workers, their families and Australian communities.

This is a very important campaign and it comes at a crucial time for thousands of workers and their employers in Australia. Growing numbers of workers face the uncertainty of irregular and unpredictable hours and pay cheques. In times when both parents in the average family are working to support a family, many have no access to sick leave, leave to provide support for a sick child or annual leave for a regular family holiday. And in a two-speed economy many employers are opting for short-term gain over long-term profitability, productivity and a skilled workforce.

For workers, an insecure job can lead to a never-ending cycle of short-term jobs, with no predictability or permanency, which in turn makes it impossible to plan for the future. The research shows us a full-time casual worker earns on average $215 less per week than a full-time permanent worker. The research also shows us that workers in insecure jobs are less likely to have access to skill and career development opportunities and are at greater risk of occupational injuries and illnesses. They are more likely to accept poor conditions at work and to stay silent on safety issues when it comes to concerns in the workplace. And most concerning is that these workers are less likely to be aware of their rights or be willing to enforce them.

I can remember quite vividly my time as an official of Unions New South Wales and taking phone calls from concerned parents of young teenagers and Australians who had been forced on to individual contracts during the period of Work Choices—working without shift penalties and weekend penalties in precarious jobs. Their parents would ask how it could be in this day and age, in a modern society like Australia, that their kids could be forced, without rights to bargain, on to these precarious employment contracts.

This type of employment has broader consequences for workers, their households and our community. These workers have families, a partner, children and friends, who all feel the burden and strain of an insecure job. Unpredictable earnings makes it harder to plan a family budget. It affects their ability to secure personal loans or mortgages. We already know that the great Australian dream of owning your own home is now harder than ever. In Sydney, where I live with my family, the ability of young people to get a foot in the door of the Sydney property market is now harder than ever. And it is not just in Sydney but all around the country. Insecure jobs and working arrangements make meeting this challenge impossible for far too many. Just ask Andrew, a casual storeman from Perth, who supports the ACTU's campaign. He says of his job:

I would give up casual for full-time, no questions asked. Tried to get credit as a casual; need to be working three times as long. Tried to get a mortgage; need more deposit. Get sick and don't get paid!'

Many workers make ends meet by working longer hours, or by taking up second or even third jobs. This means less time spent with the family and a significant imbalance in the work-life structure. As a parent of two young children, I cherish my time with my daughters. For workers in insecure jobs, missing the important moments in their children's lives can be a harsh reality. What is more alarming is that casual jobs are now proliferating in areas of employment that used to be secure. For instance, a primary school teacher can now be engaged on a rolling one-year fixed contract with no income over the long summer break and no guarantee of work the following year.

The ACTU, through its campaign, sets out to highlight some of the facts about insecure work and to dispel some of the commonly held myths. Over half of all casual employees are permanent casuals. They have ongoing employment without any of the associated entitlements or benefits. Of this half, most have been employed in their current job for over a year and about 15 per cent have been in their job for more than five years. Research conducted by the Workplace Research Centre at the University of Sydney concludes that 'jobs without paid leave entitlements in Australia are just as likely to play the role of conveyer belt out of the labour market as they are to be an escalator up to better and brighter jobs'.

Another myth is that most workers choose to work in non-standard types of work such as casual, contract and labour hire because it provides them with greater flexibility, choice and independence. Admittedly, some work­ers do prefer to work casual, non-standard hours. But, according to ABS data, more than half of all casual employees would prefer ongoing employment. There is also a myth that employers need casual workers because of the nature of the job. Again, we just need to just look at ABS data to realise that this claim is simply incorrect. Fifty-three per cent of casuals have earnings that do not vary from pay period to pay period and 65 per cent work the same number of hours each week.

The ACTU's 'Secure jobs. Better future' campaign looks to build on the core work carried out day to day by the union movement in this country, securing better conditions for the workers they represent. The campaign for secure jobs will include: bargaining for better wages, working conditions and more secure jobs; securing better minimum standards through awards and legislation; and, importantly, preventing the abuse of types of non-standard employment. The greatest argument for this campaign is in the workers' words and their stories. Take Carolyn, a casual shop assistant from Logan in Queensland. She says:

Companies expect casuals to work just as hard and some companies expect them to work harder for that little bit extra even though there are no benefits. It's hard on people individually and it's difficult to get anywhere in life ... when you can't even have a day off sick without worrying about how that will affect your next pay cheque.

This is a great initiative from the union movement and the ACTU. I urge all senators to visit the website securejobs.org.au. I congratulate the union movement and the ACTU for their campaign, and I urge all senators to learn more about this campaign.