Australian Politics Forum

Armbands with barcodes to identify casual workers - a sign of the times
Paul Richardson
June 8, 2012

Casual workers forced to wear barcodes

AUSTRALIA is in the grip of a grand-scale social experiment. It's taking place across industries and in individual workplaces and the ripples are being felt throughout the community. There is a new divide in our nation - both social and economic - and it is between those who have a well-paid and meaningful secure job and those who fall into the growing category of insecure workers. :(

Forty per cent of our workforce, often through no choice of their own, are participating in this social experiment. The majority are those who are employed as casuals, commonly through labour hire agencies, or as subcontractors working for the same employer day in, day out.

These workers have no guarantee of regular shifts or a regular income. How many hours of work will they get each week? For many it's guesswork, which makes balancing a family budget impossible and things such as sick leave, annual leave and flexibility an unachievable dream. :(

Commentators, on pages such as this, lament the pessimistic attitudes that many people display about Australia's economy. However, according to the headline economic data, we have never had it so good. Unemployment and inflation are low, the total economy is growing and interest rates are on the way down. But if you are a casual worker, wondering where your next shift is coming from, it is increasingly difficult to be optimistic about a future you don't have.

In the National Union of Workers, we are seeing this social experiment played out before us.

Good union jobs, where you went from school to the factory floor, and in some cases retired from that same job, are becoming a thing of folklore. Not a week passes when there isn't a headline about a workplace shedding workers, jobs being shipped overseas to increase already large company profits, or production ceasing altogether.

If we take the economic pressure out of this story, many workers tell us the worst thing is how they are made to feel. It's about how they are treated. It's about their dignity as workers. People are treated like second-class citizens, our members tell us. And many feel that if they speak up about it they will be shown the door. :(

Recently we have become aware that the global US-based labour hire agency Manpower issues its workers at one of our workplaces with armbands that contain barcodes that identify them.

The barcode contains employees' numbers and has to be used to obtain equipment to be able to perform their work. Employees need to have their barcodes on them at all times to be able to perform their duties. No names, just numbers. To compound the indignity of being reduced to an electronic number, these workers are required to pay for the armband.

In many workplaces, while directly employed permanent workers are provided with personal protective equipment and safety boots, indirectly employed agency casuals have to provide or pay for their own. In some cases agency casuals are even required to meet the cost of a police check as a condition of being offered work. :(

It should not be forgotten that these things happen under the direct control and with the knowledge of the host employer.

No wonder people are anxious, depressed even. What hope is there of getting a mortgage or giving your kids the best education when you are stuck in a cycle of insecure work, where you are known as a number, not a human being.

There is a preoccupation in the national debate about productivity levels, driven by employers who warn that the only way to increase productivity is to cut wages and wind back workers' rights. Labor's Fair Work Australia, they falsely claim, has allowed industrial disputes to escalate and forced business onto the back foot. :(

Sadly this debate misses the point. Under-investment in education and training and reluctance by some to embrace innovation and technology is what is holding productivity back. And the increasing casualisation of our workforce is depriving a whole generation of training and skills growth which could bolster productivity rather than reduce it. As a nation, we have stopped believing and investing in people.

How do we fix this? Just as the wider union movement pledged to do recently at the ACTU Congress, society should be focusing on this growing problem of insecure work.

Australia has always prided itself on being a classless society. We need a national dialogue on how to reduce the reliance on casualisation. Governments need to take the lead in investing in people again and end employers' addiction to short-term contract labour.

We can no longer afford to accept the myth that a healthy economy requires the maximum amount of short-term profits for a lucky and privileged minority.

A truly prosperous and productive economy is one where every worker has the opportunity to get a job they can count on.

Paul Richardson is assistant national secretary of the National Union of Workers.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/armbands-with-barcodes-to-identify-casual-workers--a-sign-of-the-times-20120607-1zysf.html#ixzz1xLcemjO9

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http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl General Discussion >> General Board >> Armbands With Barcodes To Identify Workers. http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1339290371 Message started by imcrookonit on Jun 10^th, 2012 at 11:06am