Stability in the workforce leads to the dignity of workers
The recent increase in casual and contract work has become an obstacle to the dignity of many workers and their families, according to the Chairman of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, Bishop Christopher Saunders.
Issuing the annual pastoral letter for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker (May 1), Bishop Saunders expressed concern about the environment of instability that is affecting an increasing number of people in the Australian workforce.
“Over the past three decades, this nation has witnessed monumental changes in the labour market which have included increasing risks of unemployment and insecurity,” he wrote.
He said that globalisation had opened the Australian economy to the international market and this had combined with technological advances and the pressure on employers to remain competitive, to contribute to redundancies, lower wages and the “casualisation of jobs”.
The pastoral letter, entitled The Dignity of Work: More than a Casual Concern, pointed out that while Australia could boast of an unemployment rate of around five per cent, at least a quarter of employees were in casual employment and that this number was likely to be much higher when the use of fixed-term contracts, independent contractors and labour hire agencies was taken into account.
Bishop Saunders indicated that the move toward casual employment meant that more people were having to work outside normal hours, on weekends and were balancing multiple jobs.
He said this was becoming an obstacle to normal family living as parents juggled the pressures of spending time with their families and making ends meet.
The instability created by this trend was not only contributing to more families relying on low and unpredictable wages, the Bishop stated, but was also providing less opportunity for career progression and skills development and workers were becoming trapped within a cycle of unemployment and intermittent and precarious jobs.
Bishop Saunders expressed concern that the unpredictable nature of casual and fixed term employment was not confined to a few sectors but included the retail, accommodation, health and social services, education, transport, manufacturing and other industries.
He said that it was time to consider the need for better pay and conditions for those who lacked job security. He said a new approach is needed, one which places the dignity of the worker at the centre of labour market policy to improve working conditions.