From the Union

The importance of a good job

Manufacturing is a highly sought-after industry around the world. When the Liberal Government goaded Holden into closing, there was no shortage of other nations more than happy to support their local industries to pick up the extra work. But why exactly is that?

As we all know, manufacturing drives innovation, improves productivity, delivers skills and produces the goods that businesses and consumers want and need. But all those things – fantastic though they are – are not the real reason that countries around the world are climbing over each other to secure investment into their manufacturing industries. The real reason is much simpler: jobs. Manufacturing is a great source of highquality, dependable jobs. As the global demand for manufactured goods continues to rise, so will the need for the skilled workers who create, make and maintain those products. As manufacturing has become more sophisticated and new advances in technology have improved productivity, the skills required by workers has grown and changed along with it. For decades, these improvements in productivity saw higher wages for Australian workers as their unions were able to negotiate a fairer share for the workers whose skill and labour created the wealth. Sadly, the increase in part-time, casual and labour hire work in the industry means that manufacturing is no longer able to drive economic growth or provide financial security for workers in the same way it once did. Since detailed records began in 1984, the number of part-time workers has increased from 7% to 17% of the workforce and the number of full-time employees has gone from more than 1 million to 695,000. Casualisation has also played a large role in the changing nature of the industry, with rates sitting around 17%-20% of the industry, or around 130,000 workers. Unlike many other industries with similar levels of casualisation, more than half of the casual workers in the manufacturing industry work full-time hours. This has given rise to tens of thousands of “permanent casuals” workers who are permanent in all by name. In 2016, the AMWU did detailed research on the views and experiences of casual workers (both members and nonmembers). It found that overwhelmingly, casual workers wanted the right to be able to convert to permanent employment and half of all casuals surveyed wanted to convert to permanent employment. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it also found that the vast majority of labour hire workers wanted the right to convert to permanent employment with their host employer. It is clear that casual and labour hire employment is not the preferred method of employment for the majority of employees, including a majority of those employed in those forms right now. Casualisation – including through misclassification of permanent employees as casuals – and insecure work – including labour hire, sham contracting or part-time workers who need more hours – have a range of negative effects on workers, communities and the economy at large. At the macro level, casualisation has depressed wages and improvements in workers’ working conditions. Not only are casual workers less likely to push for these things in bargaining, but the ever-present threat of permanent jobs being replaced by casual ones serves as a brake on demands by permanent workers. While many workers may prefer to work part-time, there are a large number of part-time workers who would like, and are available to work, more hours – but simply cannot find them. The significant rise in underemployment, particularly since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), is another significant source of workers within our industry who are precariously employed. As they rely on their employer for more hours in order to make ends meet, they find it very difficult to demand significant improvement to their wages and conditions. At the micro level, the impacts of insecure work are well known. Workers often are left unable to do simple things like make plans, support their communities or engage in volunteer work. More serious impacts are also well documented, like being unable to get loans, make financial commitments or undertake long-term planning; increased pressure on mental health; and family breakdown. Australia was built on the promise of a fair go, and the right to a good, secure job with decent wages has been the cornerstone of that promise for generations. If we want to get wages going, improve training and deliver productivity improvements then we must address insecure work. If we believe Australian workers should share in our nation’s growing prosperity, to be able to live happy, healthy and connected lives, and to win the new industrial and social rights for future generations, we need to address job security. Manufacturing is such an important industry because it delivers good jobs that workers, their families and communities can rely upon. It is time for our industry to deliver on that promise.