Keep Your Job, Buy The Van
I don’t think I’m the only one getting sick already of hearing stories like these. This one’s notable not only for the actions of the management, which are in themselves pretty shameful, but for the requirements on the workers—the lowlights as usual are highlighted by me:
Seventy Optus technicians have received letters of termination and will be offered a free seminar on how to write a CV and apply for jobs as independent contractors with Optus. Thirty of the technicians are from Melbourne, twenty from Sydney, seven from Brisbane and the remainder are from Adelaide, Perth and other locations.
The Optus workers are currently employed as permanent full time workers on average earnings of around $45,000 a year. Some of them have been with the company for nine years and many have families to support.
Optus has indicated that they will be re-engaged but only as independent contractors. The workers have been told they must obtain an ABN number and purchase an Optus van.
As contractors, the ACTU understands the workers will be required to pay their own superannuation, workers compensation, public liability insurance and cover the costs of a van, all materials and equipment.
The workers will also lose entitlements to paid sick leave, public holidays and annual leave.
Not only are Optus refusing to take on the usual responsibilities of fair employers, such as taking care of sick or injuried workers, but they’re also outsourcing as many of the costs of actually employing people to the employees themselves. That’s just perverse.
Can anybody defend behaviour like this, or law that allows it?
UPDATE: At a rally today in Melbourne the ACTU’s Sharan Burrow has demanded that Kevin Andrews do just that:
Ms Burrow says Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews needs to explain how Optus’s actions are lawful.
“This is an environment where the Minister must tell us what the process is,” she said.
“He must clarify what operational reasons means.
“If this is operational reasons, if big business can get away with this, then every worker in Australia is vulnerable.”
Trevor (not verified) wrote:
Trackback.
BG (not verified) wrote:
Welcome to the new world of work…..and the slow death of the Liberal Party.
Myth wrote:
You are sick of hearing the stories? Why do you think they are being presented to you?
Manipulated pure and simple.
What I am sick of is the stories that are never heard.
But as I have said before about this, this legislation is bizarre and absurd and also the only chance the Labor Party has of getting back into power within the next ten years.
These stories are obviously disturbing because they attack 100 years of social cohesion. If Howard thinks that we are going down the American path, he seriously misunderstands the Australian people. What next? We allow Indonesians to take all our fruitpicking jobs as well? Probably better than English tourists but it would destroy wages.
This story is particuarly irritating because of contract work. It all comes back to the Real Estate agents who have created an agist society through the most sly methods. God help Australia.
jason wrote:
This is not even the US system Patrick - it is worse.
Even in the US ILO rights are paid some attention (e.g. right to collectively bargain)
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