Gig economy and labour hire workers should get the same minimum conditions as employees including access to unfair dismissal and collective bargaining, the Australian Council of Trade Unions will say.
The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, will outline the ambitious demands of its Change the Rules campaign at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, with policies for fair pay and secure work including a right for casuals to convert to permanent employment.
The campaign is backed by the largest advertising blitz the union movement has conducted since its 2007 Your Rights at Work campaign to end the Howard-era WorkChoices policy and will put pressure on Labor to seek a mandate for substantial industrial relations reform if it retakes government.
Promising to tackle the problem of stagnating wages, Labor is considering a range of changes to boost low-paid workers’ bargaining power, the minimum wage and reintroduce arbitration for intractable disputes.
McManus will say that many Australians are trapped in casual employment for an average of three years because they “are given no other option” by big business.
The ACTU policy calls for casual employment to be “properly defined” and for a right to convert to permanent positions after six months to prevent employers denying casuals “basic rights”.
Casuals are currently paid a loading of 25% or more to compensate them for the lack of conditions such as paid annual leave and sick leave. Labor has already backed an objective definition of casual employment.
Ahead of the speech McManus said gig economy workers are employed as independent contractors and do not receive the minimum wage, workers’ compensation, sick leave, superannuation, unfair dismissal and collective bargaining.
“Everyone deserves these rights,” she said. “We need to change the rules so everyone has basic rights, including the right to collectively bargain.”
A recent report found Uber drivers in Australia earn an average of $14.62 an hour, below the minimum wage of $17.70 but a legal rate because courts have not recognised drivers as employees.
McManus said that labour hire allows companies to “rent out workers for lower pay and less job security”.
“It’s got to stop,” she said. “We need to completely overhaul labour hire companies by creating a national labour hire licensing system to ensure they are not cutting wages and conditions.
“Workers need protection from unfair dismissal by the host employer and the ability to bargain with the company so they can win fair pay rises and gain secure work.”
The Labor opposition has already promised a labour hire licensing regime but McManus’s comments suggest the ACTU wants the policy extended so labour hire workers cannot be paid less than the permanent employees working in the same company.
When Labor flagged changes to enterprise bargaining for low-paid workers, a labour law expert, Andrew Stewart, told Guardian Australia the government could help boost wages through its procurement in sectors including community services, aged care, disability, childcare, security and cleaning.
Picking up on the proposal, McManus said the government spends $450bn and is the largest purchaser of goods and services but uses its spending power “on what’s cheap, not quality”.
“[We need to] rewrite the commonwealth procurement rules to ensure that the government hires directly and locally, and prefers local businesses which pay fairly and provide secure jobs.”
The Gillard government required cleaning companies to pay workers above-award rates for government cleaning jobs but Stewart suggested the principle can be extended by requiring companies to meet the higher pay standards in their private sector work as well.
McManus said the majority of working people have a responsibility to care for children, sick relatives, or an elderly parent.
“We need to change the rules so people have the right to a part time or reduced hours,” she said. “And the right to return, when their caring responsibilities have reduced or ended.”
McManus said the visa system should favour permanent migration and local employment, with temporary visas used only for genuine shortages.
The government should only sign free-trade agreements that “defend and improve wages and job security”, she said. “They should not be able to bypass our laws regarding the movement of people, just for the benefit of corporations.”
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