Statement attributable to United Workers Union National Secretary Tim Kennedy:

“United Workers Union members have been fighting for more than a decade for jobs you can count on: secure jobs for casual and insecure workers in Australia.

“With the forthcoming passage of the Labor Government’s Closing the Loopholes laws, we now have a pathway for millions of casual and insecure gig workers who want decent, secure, full-time employment.

“That pathway offers casual workers the ability to win job security for themselves and their families, and will help address the cost-of-living pressures they face.

“Going from casual to permanent can be truly transformational for insecure workers, in their jobs and in their lives.

“When you are a casual in industries like hospitality, security, cleaning, logistics and aged care you are only one disagreement with your supervisor away from never being rostered again.

“For too long an employer has been able to call someone a casual, even though everything they did in their job showed it was permanent and full-time.

“These changes will stop employers saying: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s not a duck.

“If you work as a full-time worker but your employer calls you a casual, we now have a solution to that in these laws.

“Casual workers don’t have access to rights including annual leave, sick leave and the ability to be effectively represented if they are discriminated against, among other disadvantages.

“We also welcome changes that mean gig workers engaged on digital platforms can access fair minimum protections, like access to minimum rates of pay and the right not to be unfairly dismissed.

“For United Workers Union members who work in disability support and aged care on platforms like Mabel, these reforms are ground breaking.

“These major changes go some way to levelling the playing field that has been tipped towards bosses too much in the past, and we will continue to fight for workers’ rights to safe, secure and decently paid jobs.”

ENDS

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