IN its two days of sittings this week in Newcastle, the Senate Select Committee on Job Security heard more notes of a song that was already familiar to its members: that the casualisation of work was driving down wages and relieving employers of the cost and responsibility for sick leave, annual leave and other entitlements.
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That's a view endorsed by the committee's chair, Labor Senator Tony Sheldon, but it's not the whole story, as argued in dissenting chapters from Coalition senators to each of the committee's three interim reports.
The Coalition senators agree that the "disruption" caused by the "gig economy" presents a "challenge (to) certain aspects of traditional workplace relations framework", but say Labor's response is about "demonising" anything that opposed by the unions.
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At the same time, the Coalition members endorse a view that says there is no "explosion" of casual work in Australia.
They describe a 30-year fall in union membership from 40 per cent to 14 per cent of the workforce as people "voting with their feet when it comes to the forms of work that suit them best".
From the Newcastle Herald's perspective, it's clear that casual employment has made big inroads into the coal industry, as highlighted by the class actions that led to the Morrison government's new "casuals" laws passed in March this year.
At the same time, there has always been a slice of the Australian economy where casual work - and, arguably, less union oversight - has long been the norm.
It's one thing where a young person picks up casual shifts while studying or sorting out their path in life.
But it's another thing entirely if the only work that people can secure is casual, with no obligation on the employer to provide an ongoing job.
The committee has heard repeatedly that banks are unlikely - if not outright unwilling - to provide home loans to the casually employed.
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This is perhaps not surprising, but in an age when almost every aspect of life is affected in some way by digital disruption, the banks may have to adjust their lending criteria, or find some of their mortgage book usurped by "fintech" competitors.
Progress, by definition, means change.
It creates losers, as well as winners.
Think taxis, and Uber.
Australians are embracing the benefits, but we should not forget the costs.
Or the Australian credo of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
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Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
