Posted to Waverley Leader on 23/3/2009
The Death of “Sweet Sixteen”
http://waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/your-news/story/the-death-of-sweet-sixteenth/ (has been removed)
Whether we like it or not, casualisation of labour market has been around for quite awhile, and it is here to stay. The last hours of debate to kill off the Work Choices, introduced by the former Liberal Government, was bogged down by the definition of the size of employment capacity. Once again, Senator Steve Fielding, the trump card holder in the Upper House, allowed the bill to be passed after giving concession to Julie Gillard, the deputy prime minister, that for the first five years a small business is defined as one which employs 15 full-time equivalents(EFTs) and after which will amend to 15 individuals in total.
If the politicians care to talk to the store holders in shopping strips and shopping centres, particularly the hospitality business including take away outlets, they will realise that most of them would probably employ more than 15 casuals and part-time. Many current small business owners employ students as casual sales assistants, waiters and cleaners for a few hours of work per week, and are generally paid at under-award rates. Most students understand that they have been exploited and yet remained silent, for the fact that the little money they earn helps to subsidise their accommodation rental, daily expenses and education fees. Many business operators pay the casuals by cash-in-hand, and by doing so, they do not contribute adequately to Work Cover. In short, their annual income reported is not worth the paper it is written on.
Another industry that uses a lot of casual employees is the education sector especially in the TAFE colleges. Public TAFE colleges do employ more than 15 staff, but not many small private institutions or Recognised Training Organisations (RTO). Hundreds of competencies (or subjects) are available and being delivered (or taught) by skill-specific casual or sessional teachers. It is possible that 15 casual teachers are employed to deliver 15 competencies, each for 2 to 3 hours a week. Indeed, the total hours requires engaging the 15 teachers are less than 3 EFT’s.
Gillard’s definition for small business will force many more business owners not to record casual workers on their payroll, thus putting more workers at risk as they will be not covered by Work Cover. For the private RTOs, they will likely to sacrifice quality by employing sessional teachers who are able to deliver multiple competencies but of mediocre standard.
A fairer definition should place more emphasis on the earning capacity of the business rather than the number employed!
