1 minute read
CAMPAIGNING FOR PORTABLE LONG SERVICE LEAVE
says lead organiser JASON WALTERS
The role of leave entitlements in today’s hectic and demanding working life are vital.
However, the rise of insecure work means leave entitlements, as they currently stand, should be revised and updated.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shown clearly the negative impacts of insecure work on our society.
Workers without sick leave have been forced to go to work or not get paid, as industries shut workers in insecure work have found themselves without annual leave or other forms of leave to fall back on for support.
This has required dramatic Government intervention.
However, the consequences of insecure work are not new.
Workers in insecure work regularly report having substandard employment conditions and entitlements.
The McKell Institute report, titled ‘The Case for a National Portable Long Service Leave Scheme in Australia’ (2013) estimated that 33% of Australian workers did not have any access or entitlement to long service leave at all.
Long service leave provides a much needed break from the demands and stresses of work, to encourage rest and recovery before again returning to work. Long service leave is not a ‘reward’ for years of service to a particular employer, it is an earned entitlement that has been circumvented by employers through the use of a casualised workforce.
One way to resolve these issues would be for the WA State Government to implement a portable long service leave scheme like they have in the construction industry or like they have in Victoria.
In Victoria contract cleaners, security and community services industries or simply industries where intermittent and casual employment is a feature of the industry have portable long service leave.
In 2017 when Broadspectrum (now Ventia) won the Department of Corrective Services contract from Serco for prison officers, our TWU members went from wearing one uniform and holding on to years of entitlements, to overnight, wearing a new uniform and having those accruals stripped from them.
If a portable long service leave scheme existed, those entitlements would be paid by their employer into a bank and it would follow them to every workplace, ensuring these workers could take their long service leave at 7 years.
Or allow for sick, personal, or annual leave whenever they needed it.
Portable long service leave would mean workers were again able to access leave entitlements after a sustained period in the workforce.
It would encourage workers to take holidays or breaks to spend more time with their families. In addition, portable long service leave would provide substantial benefits to employers including the retention and increased productivity of staff.
These schemes have proven themselves over the longer term to be of a financial advantage to businesses as the investments from these schemes become self funding over time, allowing for a gradual reduction of future contributions from employers.
