Secure Jobs. Better Future

Secure Jobs. Better Future is a national campaign to improve the rights and working lives of the 40% of the Australian workforce employed in insecure work.

The past few decades have witnessed a dramatic and disturbing growth of insecure jobs in Australia. More and more workers in Australia have jobs that have irregular and unpredictable working hours and pay, inferior rights and entitlements (including limited or no access to paid leave), and no job security.

Unions have a fundamental role to play in protecting the jobs and rights of workers and coming up with solutions and a vision for good jobs.

Insecure work can be experienced by all workers. However particular groups of workers are more likely to experience insecure work, including those in casual and fixed-term employment, seasonal work, contract work and labour hire. In Australia today, only about 60% of workers are in full or part-time ongoing employment.

That leaves about 40% in insecure jobs.

Insecure work is often accompanied by other disadvantages, such as low pay, less access to opportunities for training and career enhancement, less voice in the workplace and a higher risk of occupational illnesses and injury. People in insecure work are also less likely to be aware of their workplace rights and to enforce them.

Outside of work, insecure work affects the ability of working people to plan their lives properly, purchase a home, and causes unnecessary financial hardship.

Quality, secure jobs are a key to shared national prosperity.

Australian unions are determined to ensure that all workers have decent, secure jobs and control over their working lives. We will be campaigning for better jobs for workers in all industries and occupations. We will be campaigning in workplaces, in communities, and at the political level.

Some of the solutions to insecure work are already being used successfully in workplaces. Others will be achieved by bargaining and by running cases in the industrial tribunal. And there will also need to be legislative changes to improve workers’ rights.

What is a secure job?
The Secure Jobs. Better Future campaign is about promoting the rights of all workers to:

Fair and predictable pay and hours of work
A say about how, where, and when they work, and to be consulted about change
Access to important conditions, like annual leave, paid sick leave, overtime, penalty rates and long service leave
Quality skills and training, and career opportunities
A healthy and safe work environment

The rise of insecure work in Australia
The growth of insecure work is driven by employers trying to realise short-term savings and higher profits by avoiding costs associated with employment such as paid leave, workers’ compensation, long service leave and superannuation.

For employers, it can also mean greater flexibility in hiring and firing workers.

But these cost savings have come at the expense of workers and of decent quality jobs. They have also come at the cost of longer term productivity that can be achieved through having a motivated, committed and skilled workforce.

Key facts: Casual workers
One in four Australian employees – over 2 million workers – are casual employees, with no job security and no right to paid leave, even when they get sick. Australia has one of the highest rates of casual employment in the developed world.

Casual employment is particularly high in some sectors but it is increasingly common across all sectors of the economy. In accommodation and food services, 65% of all employees are casual and in agriculture, 47% of all employees are casual.

More than half of all casual workers have been casually employed in their current job for more than a year and more than 325,000 workers have been employed casually in their current job for more than 5 years.

According to ABS data, more than half of all casual employees would prefer a permanent job.
Workers on fixed-term contracts

Over 350,000 employees work on a fixed-term contract. Fixed-term contracting is a particular problem in industries such as education and public administration.
Contracting and labour hire

There are more than 1 million independent contractors – workers who contract to perform services for another and don’t have the status of an ‘employee’.

Many contractors are genuinely independent, but many are economically dependent upon one client and have no bargaining power.

Sham contracting – whereby an employer disguises an employment relationship as a contracting one – is increasingly common in Australia. Employers engage in sham contracting to avoid having to give workers their rights and entitlements, such as paid leave, overtime and public holiday rates, workers’ compensation insurance and superannuation.

Key facts: Unpredictable pay and working hours
Many workers have little or no control over their working hours. This often means being required to work at short notice, short minimum call-in periods, being required to work anti-social hours without adequate compensation or having no minimum hours guaranteed each week.

Nearly a quarter of all workers working part-time would prefer more hours (55% of these workers would prefer a full-time job)

25% of all employees have pay that varies from one pay period to the next.

The campaign for secure jobs
This is not a one-size-fits-all problem and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Casual or contract work suits some people. But workers should have a choice.

Many union priorities are already directed at securing better jobs for all workers. These include improving access to flexible working arrangements, strengthening rights and minimum standards for contractors, and securing improvements to the bargaining system.

The campaign for secure jobs will include: