ACTU Federal Court has ruled to protect the rights of working people

The Federal Court has ruled to protect the rights of working people who are labelled casuals purely to strip them of job security, rights and pay in a landmark ruling in the case of WorkPac Pty Ltd Rossato.

This decision is a massive step forward in the fight for more secure work for Australian workers.

It shines a spotlight on the unfairness of casualisation and has shut down a loophole that labour hire companies have been exploiting to undermine job security and pay.

Working people need more job security, this decision confirms their rights to permanent rights if their job is permanent.

Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus:

“This is a huge win for the workers involved and their union the CFMMEU, but it is also a win for all workers who are suffering because of systemic casualisation. It clearly demonstrates the need to reduce workplace insecurity.

“We need the stop the practice of some employers labelling jobs “casual” when they are in fact permanent. This has stripped workers of rights and security.

“It’s time for employers to accept that finding new ways to make permanent jobs casual has to end. We should be working together as a country to reduce the number of insecure jobs, it has got out of control and unfortunately too many people are now feeling the harsh reality of having no job protections during the pandemic.

“We congratulate Paul Skene, the worker whose case led to this decision, for standing up with his union and fighting for this win for casual workers.”

AMWU Welcomes Labor's Support for Manufacturing

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) welcomes Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s focus on revitalising Australian manufacturing and investing in infrastructure as part of a COVID-19 recovery strategy.

“This crisis has demonstrated the importance of having a domestic manufacturing industry” said AMWU National Secretary Paul Bastian.

 “Manufacturing has been vital to get us through this crisis, with firms retooling to provide essential medical supplies like masks and ventilators. We cannot return to an economy solely reliant on tourism and exporting raw materials in the wake of this crisis. We must support Australian manufacturing, and we welcome the vision of the Federal Labor Party outlined by Mr Albanese today”, Mr Bastian said.

Mr Bastian said that government investing in infrastructure to get the economy moving again was “absolutely the right thing to do.”

“We need to fill up the factories with work as soon as possible. The best way to do that is for the government to invest in nation-building infrastructure.”

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the dangers of hollowing out our manufacturing sector and becoming reliant on long international supply chains.

“For decades, governments have chosen to send manufacturing jobs offshore to the cheapest bidder. We welcome Mr Albanese’s recognition of the damage this has done to manufacturing communities across the country, especially in regional areas”, Mr Bastian said.

“We strongly support Mr Albanese’s call to build Australian-made trains and invest in high speed rail. We need to build back better from this crisis. Governments spending taxpayer money here at home, buying and building locally and supporting Australian jobs, Australian businesses, and the Australian economy just makes sense”, Mr Bastian said.

Mr Albanese also spoke of the need to better commercialise scientific research, and invest in skills and training.

“A well funded TAFE and Vocational Education and Training sector is vital for Australia’s future. We’ve lost a lot of our sovereign capability through successive decades of neglect. To create the highly skilled workforce that will be essential to rebuild our manufacturing capability, we must invest in TAFE as Mr Albanese said”, Mr Bastian said.


“The Federal Government should take Mr Albanese’s suggestions on board as they chart a course forwards through this crisis”, Mr Bastian said.

TAFE and NSW Teachers Federation

Despite the NSW Government walking away from the TAFE Enterprise Agreement in March, Federation has secured a commitment from TAFE NSW for certainty of ongoing employment for long-term temporary employees.

Federation is “appalled” at the behaviour of the Government in dropping the Enterprise Agreement (EA) in March but welcomed the TAFE Managing Director’s advice that TAFE NSW will work with Federation to uphold the commitment to the conversion of temporary employees, agreed to in the bargaining process.

Federation began bargaining with TAFE NSW for a new Teachers and Related Employees Enterprise Agreement late in 2019.

Federation and TAFE NSW held many meetings, at which we progressed toward finding agreement on key issues. Those key issues, identified by TAFE members who had undertaken a pre-bargaining survey distributed to all workplaces, included a 2.5 per cent pay rise with no loss of conditions, an increase in permanency, and access to genuine professional development to maintain vocational currency.

Mindful that TAFE teachers and related employees last received a pay rise in late November 2018, Federation worked with a view to finalising bargaining as soon as possible after the expiry date of the current EA on 3 February, 2020. This would have allowed TAFE teachers and related employees to complete a ballot period as required by Fair Work, and receive their first pay rise in the first quarter of 2020.

On 27 February, a joint communiqué signed by Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos and TAFE managing director Steffen Faurby was sent to TAFE members advising that bargaining had progressed to a point where very few matters required more detailed discussion.

On Wednesday, 11 March, TAFE NSW and Federation met for a marathon seven hours, where wording for a new EA was finalised.

TAFE NSW sent Federation correspondence late that night – a full copy of the proposed EA and all documentation that would sit alongside it (such as recommittal of the Administrative Agreement) – allowing the union to take a recommendation to our TAFE TA Council on 13 March and then to Federation State Council the next day. At both councils, a recommendation to accept the EA was endorsed unanimously.

TAFE NSW had informed Federation that should we indicate a positive response from Council, TAFE would commence the Fair Work ballot on the following Monday or Tuesday, 16 or 17 March, with a view to close the ballot on 1 April.

If this ballot of employees was affirmative, this timeline would have allowed the first pay rise to occur before the commencement of term 2.

However, on 18 March, Mr Faurby informed Federation the Berejiklian Government was no longer honouring the commitment it had made regarding the TAFE Teachers and Related Employees Enterprise Agreement (correspondence). This decision was ostensibly related to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Federation immediately sought legal advice regarding this delay and responded to the TAFE Managing Director.

Further, Mr Gavrielatos petitioned the Premier to alter the decision and honour the agreement that was made in good faith.

This resulted in further correspondence from TAFE, received by Federation on 30 March.

Federation is appalled at the behaviour of this government regarding this matter, and continues to canvas all legal, political and industrial options available to bring this matter to a swift and just conclusion.

Our EA determines our working conditions and, along with the National Employment Standards, contains all teachers and related employees’ industrial entitlements. When bargaining for an EA, the union is concerned about more than just a pay rise; it is always looking to include wording to alleviate any ongoing workplace difficulties.

During this recent bargaining, Federation gained a commitment from TAFE NSW to include a clause in the EA that converted long-term temporary teachers to permanency.

Those who have been TAFE employees for some time may remember the Temporary Teacher Agreement before being moved into the federal Fair Work industrial system. This agreement outlined a process where part-time casual teachers, who had been merit-selected into a temporary teacher position and had held that position continuously for two years, were converted to permanency.

While this agreement had occasional hiccups in implementation, there were large numbers of teachers who benefitted from it. Unfortunately, once we were moved into the federal Fair Work Act, all policies and agreements that were not a part of the EA were disregarded by subsequent management.

Further, the Fair Work Act does not allow the commission to rule on issues outside an EA. Thus, even where a management decision is patently unfair, an employer cannot be instructed by Fair Work to implement a policy that is not in an EA or the National Employment Standards.

During this recent bargaining process, Federation was able to negotiate the introduction of a similar concept into the 2020 Enterprise Agreement. The (unimplemented) EA, as negotiated earlier this year, contains a discreet clause, Conversion of Temporary Employees to Permanent Employment.

Correspondence from the Managing Director on 1 May included a reference to TAFE NSW upholding these commitments.

"TAFE NSW is continuing to work with the NSW Teachers Federation to honour commitments that can be implemented outside of enterprise bargaining, including the conversion of temporary employees to permanent employment, and also establishing new consultation arrangements between the two organisations. We look forward to sharing more information about these commitments in due course."

Key concepts of this are:

After completing two years of continuous service in the same temporary position, a temporary employee will be made permanent providing:

there are no excess permanent employees who would match the position
the initial appointment was on the basis of merit ongoing work is available as determined by the

Regional General Manager and General Manager People and Safety
the temporary employee has the relevant skills qualifications, experience and work performance standards to enable the employee to perform the duties of the position concerned.
Requests for conversion from temporary to permanent employment will not be unreasonably refused.

While it is terribly disappointing the government chose to walk away from committing to this reasonable clause by enacting it as law, we welcome the TAFE Managing Director’s advice that TAFE NSW will work with Federation to implement this clause before finalising the implementation of the new EA.

Up until now, teachers who have been long-term temporary employees had no certainty of ongoing employment, and often relied upon Federation advocating for their conversion to permanency with TAFE NSW.

This was never ideal and certainly not fair. Until this clause is formally included in the Teachers and Related Employees Enterprise Agreement, Federation will continue to monitor temporary employment. This is reliant upon those members who are long-term temporary employees contacting the union to advise us of their circumstances.

To assist this, we will be asking all temporary teachers and related employees to attend Federation meetings (currently being held using various video and teleconferencing platforms) to alert Federation Representatives and Organisers of the status of your employment, so you can work with us to ensure the smooth facilitation of this new process/clause.

While we are affected by physical isolation due to COVID-19, Federation will continue to make contact with members in different ways.

We are currently conducting meetings via Zoom, Teams and Skype, and some Organisers will be attending TAFE colleges for one-on-one discussions with members while following physical distancing protocols.

The union also relies on you, as a member, to pass this information on to colleagues who may not be members of Federation.

It is important they are aware of their working conditions and have an opportunity to join the union to assist us in our important work of supporting you at work. If an employee doesn’t understand their entitlements, they are likely to undermine them. This can undermine everyone’s working conditions.

It is important that every teacher in your workplace is a member of the NSW Teachers Federation.

Message from Annie Butler, ANMF Federal Secretary

Message from Annie Butler, ANMF Federal Secretary

2020 – International Year of the Nurse & Midwife – this must be our year

2020, the World Health Organisation designated International Year of the Nurse & Midwife, is our year.

It is the year for our voices to be heard and for Australia’s politicians to recognise our value by investing in the nursing and midwifery workforce. Genuinely. Properly. Truly.

It is not the year for more platitudes, lip service and ‘pats on the back’ in lieu of genuine recognition of nurses’ and midwives’ work and honest, meaningful support for that work.

It is the year to guarantee:

Safe staffing ratios for nurses and midwives across every sector

Safe environments in every place nurses & midwives work and an end to workplace violence
Nurses & midwives are enabled to work to full capacity

Urgent action on climate change and its devastating health effects, which could not be more critically needed than right now in the midst of Australia’s bushfire crisis.

This will require politicians and governments to respond to the evidence before them and invest in staffing ratios in all sectors and in creating safe working environments across the country. It will require the expansion of nurse and midwife-led models of care that are innovative, increase access for all and lead to better health outcomes for communities and much better use of nurse practitioners working in proper jobs.

It will require legislative and policy support to enable all nurses and midwives to work to their full scope of practice. And, it will require immediate action and an urgent, whole-of-government response to climate change.

It will also require us, Australia’s nurses and midwives, to take action to make this happen. If we want our voices to be heard, then we have to speak up. We have to make sure that nurses and midwives are present and contributing at all levels of critical decision-making processes, from the patient’s bedside to national health taskforces and committees. We must not accept others imposing decisions on us without consultation.

The evidence is behind us, our work is the proof of the difference nurses and midwives can make  – this year must be our year to shine.

The ANMF will be celebrating the work of nurses and midwives throughout 2020, with a series of national and ANMF Branch events and activities to be held across all states and territories. Stay tuned for regular updates here on the ANMF website and for more details on what’s happening in your state or territory go to your branch’s website.

Acoss Media Release

Jobs figures show importance of JobKeeper and new JobSeeker

The April employment figures out today demonstrate the importance of a decent, secure safety net for people without paid employment, says the Australian Council of Social Service.

“We’ve already seen the official unemployment rate rise to 6.2% in April and we know this would have been worse had the JobKeeper payment not been announced," ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said.

“Startlingly, 20% of people previously employed (2.7 million) became unemployed or had their hours reduced between March and April.

“For people without a job, or those who need more hours, there is currently very little opportunity to find paid work. Not only is this financially distressing, the great uncertainty that people are going through deeply affects mental health.

“People need security for the future and business needs confidence in order to be able to rebuild. That’s why it’s so important that the Government extends the new JobSeeker Payment until we have an income support system in place that protects people from living below the poverty line.

“Under the compliance system before COVID19, people had to search for 20 jobs a month, participate in Work for the Dole and attend regular appointments with employment service providers under pain of losing their next payment.

Payments were automatically suspended on the same day if someone didn’t attend a provider appointment regardless of the reason, and people had to contact their provider to get payments reinstated. In many cases, people weren’t even aware of the appointment. "This system was harsh, and caused a great deal of anxiety for people.

This compliance system has been suspended since the lockdowns commenced.
"Given the high level of anxiety among people who lack paid employment and have to rely on Jobseeker Payments, we welcome Employment Minister Cash’s announcement today that the suspension of activity requirements for Jobseeker Payment will continue at least until June 1, and that the Government will take account the scope of lockdowns and state of the labour market before reinstating it.

"We call on the Government not to reinstate the harsh system that was in place before this crisis, and to work with employment service providers and representatives of people affected to redesign the system so that people can prepare and search for jobs, while feeding and housing themselves, with the certainty that their payments won’t suddenly be suspended," Dr Goldie said.

Media contact:  Australian Council of Social Service, 0419 626 155