The Australian Industry Group refused to accept the insecure work crisis in Australia in a pamphlet released yesterday.
Forty per cent of Australian workers are in insecure work, and the numbers are growing.
One in four workers in Australia are employed on a casual basis, and many more are in other forms of non-standard employment, leaving them without basic workplace rights.
AIG’s claim that insecure work benefits working people is plainly wrong, self-serving and shows how out of touch big business is.
Working people want secure work. They are sick of being forced into less secure jobs, sometimes even the same job, on lower pay and with fewer conditions.
The AIG’s position is merely an attempt to justify further profiteering, at the expense of working people.
Australian needs more secure work and a pay rise just to pay the bills.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Assistant Secretary Scott Connolly:
“Insecure work is a crisis in Australia. AIG need to actually admit this is an issue, and stop pretending like it benefits anyone other than big business.
“The level of insecure work we have in Australia is not normal.
“Insecurity disproportionately affects women and is entrenching the gender pay gap.
“Insecure work is now destroying the rights of a generation of workers.
“Insecure work feeds straight into low rises insecure workers have less bargaining power.
“Insecure work is the biggest issue facing Australian workers. It runs through everything. When you are not secure in your job, you have fewer rights. It’s harder to argue for that much needed pay rise. This has to change.
“We have a simple decision to make, do we want the next generation to never know what it is like to have a paid holiday or do we think they deserve the same or better rights their parents and grandparents enjoyed?
“It’s this short-sighted approach which has led us to this point, on the path to the Americanisation of our workplaces.
“If we want to stop the growth in inequality and make Australia a fairer and more prosperous country, we can start by making work more secure.”
ENDS
