AUSTRALIA’S peak employer body, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), recently warned that the federal Labor Party’s proposal to re-define industrial rights for casual employees in Australia is a misreading of the labour market that could significantly reduce earnings for casual staff.
AUSTRALIA’S peak employer body, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), recently warned that the federal Labor Party’s proposal to re-define industrial rights for casual employees in Australia is a misreading of the labour market that could significantly reduce earnings for casual staff.
“Even on the ACTU’s own surveys, more than 70 per cent of casual employees want to remain in casual work,” said ACCI chief executive Peter Hendy.
The Labor Party has foreshadowed a proposal to allow casual staff to receive holiday pay and sick leave. Hendy said this would only be made possible by employers removing casual loadings, which represent between 20 and 30 per cent of a casual employee’s pay.
“The ALP proposal is based on the assumption that regular casual work on loaded hourly rates in Australia is against the public interest and should be deterred by political intervention,” he said. “That assumption is a misreading of the labour market and contemporary society.”
In the manufacturing industry, where the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in December 2000 allowed casual staff to convert to part-time status, less than 2 per cent of casual staff changed over.
ALP Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations Craig Emerson foreshadowed the policy last September, and said he welcomed the business community’s input.
Emerson said the policy also recognised that casual employees don’t normally receive any benefit from skills development and investment in training by employers. “We should not be engaged in a race to the bottom in competing against wage costs against the countries of East Asia,” he said.
However Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews said Labor’s plans for casual workers would cost will cost jobs and remove choice. He said that more than 1.3 million jobs have been created since 1996 because employers and employees have been free to choose their employment relationship.
The Minister pointed to research by Professor Kevin Doogan of the University of Bristol, which found that most casual workers in Australia are happy with their pay and conditions and almost half of casual work involves young Australians and students who do not want a long-term job.
The ACCI also found that 45 per cent of casual employment is among the young and student workforce not looking for a current long-term labour market commitment, and more than 70 per cent of casual employees have a clear preference to remain in casual work.
