Casualisation of the Workforce Spreads Disease

I have a theory. The casualisation of the workforce spreads disease. How so? Let me explain.

According to the OECD Employment Outlook 2019, Australia has one of the highest rates of work casualisation within the OECD’s 36-member countries. Approximately one in four workers in Australia is a casual worker.

According to the Australian Government’s Fairwork Ombudsman, a casual employee, among other things, doesn't get paid sick or annual leave. To make up for this, casual workers receive something called ‘casual loading’ where they receive an extra 15-25% hourly pay rate as determined by their award or agreement.

There’s one big downside to being a casual. If you’re sick and don’t go to work, you miss out on a day’s pay. That could be $200 or more depending on what type of job you do. Most families can’t afford that, so what happens? The sick casual employee goes to work anyway because they need the money.

Yes, there is a casual loading to cover these sorts of instances, but do you think every casual employee is putting away 15-25% of their salary every week to cover unexpected illness? No. Most families I know are living paycheck to paycheck. Regardless of the casual loading, people cannot afford to lose an entire day’s pay.

I’m a casual at a university, and this particular university has a very high casualisation rate. About half of all workers identify as casual or contract workers. When they’re sick, do they take time off work? From what I’ve seen — No. Unless they can’t walk, they go to work. Why? Because they need the money.

Consequently, we have ourselves a nation of sick people going to work spreading disease because society has been set up to punish them financially if they don’t.

Full time workers don’t have to worry so much. They are entitled to paid sick leave and annual leave. But us poor old casuals are sometimes stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do we take a day off and get paid nothing, potentially not having enough to pay the rent? Or do we go to work anyway because we need the money? From my experience, most choose the latter. It’s unfortunate, but what else can struggling families do?

As I said in the title, casualisation of the workforce spreads disease.

MUSIC
Plenty Step by Freedom Trail Studio

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