Welcome to the ‘Brave New World of Employment Darwinism’ … this government has striven to achieve this outcome …

-first it was ‘Work Choices’ we know what that was all about, US-style work environments

-the next step was to erode Medicare to get a US-style health system …even using a so-called PPP arrangement as an excuse to meet obligations for change here e.g. to the PBS

NOW with the casualisation of the workforce, and nearly 40% without entitlements the country had more than a hiccup …

-the system they have fought to get has a fundamental flaw … when things go astray it doesn’t cope, there’s no capacity to absorb

.social loss
.human needs
.emergencies

WHAT a nice Society we have created, there’s little dignity in seeing things fall apart and being ill equipped to do much about it!

RMIT FACT FILE:  CASUAL EMPLOYMENT PAID LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS

Read more!

COVID-19 has put jobs in danger. How many workers don’t have leave entitlements?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-30/fact-file-casual-employment-paid-leave-entitlements/12089056

RMIT ABC Fact Check

‘As the world struggles to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, workers without paid leave entitlements are clearly among the most vulnerable in the sudden economic downturn.’

-many thousands have lost their jobs; others face unpaid time off work if they need to self-isolate

-with increasing bans on gatherings

EXTRACTS from ‘RMIT FACT CHECK … COVID-19 has put jobs in danger. How many workers don’t have leave entitlements? – ABC Newspaper’

‘Defining and measuring casual employment

As Fact Check has previously pointed out, there is no formal legal definition of casual employment.

Rather, casual employment “has generally been regarded as employment in which there is an absence of entitlement to paid annual leave or sick leave”, according to a guide published by the Australian Parliamentary Library.’

–casual workers receive a higher hourly rate of pay including a casual loading, of an additional 25 per cent

-casuals are entitled to two days of carer’s or compassionate leave per occasion, and 5 days’ unpaid family and domestic violence leave within a 12-month period

How many casuals are there in Australia?

‘As a proportion of all workers in Australia — of which there are around 12.8 million — casual workers make up 20 per cent, or one in five.’

Casual employment over time

Fact Check found that since 1997 around 24 to 25 per cent of all employees were employed on a casual basis, according to ABS data.

-the impact of recession and weakening of unions led the growth of casual employment

-from the 1980s to the mid-1990s workers lost ground over working conditions

-with increase in longer working hours, unpaid overtime and casualisation

-a consequence of two major recessions; weakened unions; decreased workers’ bargaining power

Other workers without leave entitlements

-self-employed Australians also lack the paid-leave entitlements available to employees on part-time or full-time contracts

-with 2.2 million self-employed Australians

-including either owner-manager of incorporated business, or owner-manager of unincorporated business, and include those working in the gig economy, such as Uber drivers

So how many workers don’t have paid leave entitlements?

The ACTU’s claim that 3.3 million Australian workers were without paid leave entitlements is likely an understatement

Characteristics of workers without paid leave

-casual employees likely to be younger; work in the hospitality and retail industries

-most workers without paid leave were in industries “especially vulnerable to shutdown” such as cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Principal researcher: Ellen McCutchanfactcheck@rmit.edu.au

SOURCE: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-30/fact-file-casual-employment-paid-leave-entitlements/12089056