SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 – Workers across the manufacturing industry – food, print, vehicle, manufacturing, and construction - will now have to wait at least a year to convert from casual employment to permanent work after a Fair Work Commission decision.
Workers across the manufacturing sector have fought long for and won the right to convert after six months but will now face insecure work and living without entitlements during a pandemic for longer.
The Federal Government has systematically made jobs less secure award by award as part of its’ sweeping industrial relations reforms, the AMWU say.
This is backed by employers using insecure work to stop workers joining a union, working collectively to organise for better conditions at work and stopping us from pushing for improved safety at work.
Quotes attributable to AMWU National Secretary Steve Murphy:
“As a result of this decision our workers across our industries will have to deal with the unnecessary hardship of facing insecure work for longer during a pandemic.
“This decision deepens the crisis of insecure work at a time when we should be protecting workers in order to help our economy recover from COVID.
“Workers are telling us that their work is rarely ever genuinely casual, and they’ve fought long and hard for the right to convert after six months. This right should have been protected by the Commission.
“The Commission is supposed to be the independent umpire, where workers can go for a fair hearing. There’s a real cloud over it when you see an outcome like this.”