With your help, we’ve made lots of progress, but we won’t stop until the whole bill is defeated.
This month we launched a campaign to defeat Scott Morrison’s Omnibus Bill, aka WorkChoices 2.0. The bill will reduce workers’ pay and conditions if it goes ahead. In its original form it allowed employers to negotiate agreements that left workers worse off compared to the award. It would change the definition of casuals meaning permanent employees could be redefined as casuals, and it would stop workers on Greenfields agreements from improving their pay or conditions for 8 long years.
In 2020 we participated in working groups in good faith with employer groups to develop job-creation solutions post-pandemic. The pandemic exposed the dangers of insecure work and how easily workers can be cast aside when they are casuals. We advocated for this opportunity to create more secure jobs in Australia with good pay and conditions. In the end the Morrison Government ignored the months of discussions and proposed the most extreme suggestions of big business and employer groups, which was to reduce the wages and rights of ordinary working Australians.
We’ve made progress!
Over 50,000 of you have sent a message to one of the five crossbenchers who can defeat this bill in the Senate. Thank you to every one of you who has stood up for yourself and all Australian workers. Because of this, the government has dropped its changes to the Better Off Overall Test, which is a significant win for fair wages.
However, we can’t stop now. This whole bill has got to go, and we have to keep up the pressure until it is voted down in its entirety. No amendments can fix a bill designed to cut the wages of working Australians.
What’s next?
The legislation has passed the House of Representatives, but it still needs to be debated in the Senate which will commence from 15 March 2021. This is our key chance for the crossbenchers to stop this bill.
How can you help?
Send a message to a crossbencher if you haven’t already. Tell them the whole bill has got to go!
Follow our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for the latest updates and share our messages with your network. The more we can get the word out, the more pressure we can put on these decisionmakers.