The failure to anticipate the consequence of workers having no paid sick leave is one of the greatest flaws in Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
A freeze in the minimum wage would make it easier for stressed employers to hang onto their workers says a bare majority of experts surveyed by the Economic Society and The Conversation.
Granting low-wage workers a “living wage” instead of a minimum wage is far from costless, and there are much better ways of helping people genuinely in need.
That the Fair Work Ombudsman brought a case against Foodora suggests its workers are most likely to be classified as employees. This could dissuade other platforms from offering similar benefits.
Many gig workers are classified as independent contractors, leaving them without minimum wages and other workplace protections. Creating a new category of worker could fix that.
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Lucinda Beaman, The Conversation
Q&A between the University of Melbourne’s Joshua Healy and The McKell Institute’s Edward Cavanough about methodologies for estimating the impact of the proposed Sunday penalty rate cuts.
The insistence by the Fair Work Commission that the government make a submission on penalty rates was not about their position, but a call on the government to take some of the responsibility itself.