FEATURE

Omnibus Bill

The Morrison Government has determined to enter the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 into Parliament which, if passed, will impact upon the working conditions of employees across Australia. This means nurses, midwives, and care workers who work in private sector sites (hospitals, general practice, aged care and other businesses) may see changes in their working conditions.

The Government is trying to push this legislation through at a time when they should be thanking and supporting workers who have worked hard to keep Australia moving throughout this pandemic. Instead, they want these changes to coincide with the end of pandemic financial support measures.

Summary:

If passed, the legislation will increase the possibility of workers being placed in insecure work as they may be classified as casuals when they really work part-time. Of course, if you are ‘casual’ an employer can choose not to offer you shifts. The casualisation of the workforce (particularly in aged care) created considerable issues during COVID-19 where employers attempted to restrict the right of workers to work in more than one workplace. However, workers were in the situation of needing to have more than one job because the employer would not allocate sufficient permanent hours to enable them to care for their families and pay their bills.

What it means for you:

There are many changes proposed but one that will be of interest to our members is that work may well become even less secure in the future. The right to request conversion from casual to permanent employment can be rejected without reason from the employer and there are no appeal rights. Part-time employees may be given limited hour contracts but be expected to work extra hours with no entitlement to overtime payments. The employer is no longer going to have to advise that workers have a right to be represented during Enterprise Agreement Bargaining and changes to voting processes on an Enterprise Agreement make it easier for a substandard Agreement to be ‘passed.’

Learn more:

More information on the Omnibus Bill can be found here.
Read the ANMF’s Federal submission to the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Job and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 here
Read the ANMF’s State submission to the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Job and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 here

Get involved:

If you are concerned about the changes, please spare 1 minute to contact your crossbench senator, to let them know the risks here.
Sign the ‘You can’t heal the economy by hurting workers’ petition here

Updates correct as at 17 March 2021.
Authorised by Emily Shepherd, ANMF Tasmanian Branch Secretary

ASSISTANCE & SUPPORT

Member Support Team: The ANMF Tasmanian Branch is 8000 plus members strong! Supporting nurses, midwives, and care workers as the only union in Tasmania employing nurses and care workers to represent members. This is why our Organisers and Member Support Team are uniquely positioned to understand your experiences, represent you in your workplace, and offer industrial advice that’s relevant to you. Please contact our Member Support Team if you need workplace support, would like to discuss any matters or raise a concern. Alternatively, you can send an email outlining your concerns to our team - membersupport@anmftas.org.au. Email is the preferred and fastest way of contacting the team, however if your matter is urgent, please phone (03) 6223 6777 or 1800 001 241 if you are outside of Hobart.

Member Support Team

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