The SDA’s landmark study “Who Cares? A Fair Share of Work and Care” and the subsequent Senate Select Committee on Work and Care have shown that many low paid workers are not trying to manage a work life balance but instead trying to survive a constant collision between work and care responsibilities.
The atomisation of work whether through the use of casual work, labour hire work or part time work with unstable and frequently changing rosters whether set by managers, apps or algorithms mimicking a gig approach, are all contributing to this work life collision.
This pervasive approach where “flexibility” on the shop floor seems to be one way leading to an “on demand rostering” system for even some part time workers is in contrast with and creates a growing chasm between those in society with stable and predictable hours of work that supports a workers life outside of work and those who are constantly “on demand” with unpredictable and unstable working hours which consistently impact and takes precedence over a workers life outside of work.
Many Australians in precarious work face not only extreme financial inequality but also a significant inequality in societal participation in Australia. Workers lack certainty and control over working hours; this causes anxiety and stress for them, their children, and their families; and intergenerational disadvantage is entrenched by workplace practices. There is a lack of recognition that children’s parents having certainty and control gives children access to life, learning and opportunity.
Rostering justice for workers in retail and fast food would not only give them a better chance to manage work and life with a corresponding better opportunity to participate in society outside of work, it could also enable them to work more hours if they had certainty of when those hours of work would be.
ACT Labor must act to reform a system that has evolved that is inconsistent with the sustainable development goal of “Decent work and economic growth".