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Precarious vs Ongoing Employment

When an employer talks of flexibility, it usually means that the employees have to forgo normal work codification and adopt unsustainable and uncomfortably contorted positions. The employer claims at an AIS bargaining table to increase the length of “temporary” employment from 1 year to 2 years is what prompted this article. Anyone currently bargaining must watch out for this type of claim to increase insecure work at the expense of ongoing employment.

The IEU believes that it is in the best interests of members and for the stability of schools that employment be, wherever possible, on an ongoing “permanent” basis rather than short-term “contracts” or casual. Employees need the stability of employment for professional and personal reasons (including for obtaining finance). Insecure work adds stresses. Short-term contracts should not be used by employers to “try people out” for suitability – that is what probation is for.

Situations where fixed term contracts may be legitimately used were specified in the previous state awards and are carried over to most of our current EAs.

• Replacement: As the name suggests are to replace an employee on approved leave (no time limit)
• Temporary – (max 12 months)
  • Fill unforeseen vacancy pending permanent filling (Teachers only)
  • Trial basis eg experimental curriculum (Teachers only)
  • Specific purpose government funded project (Teachers & ESOs)
  • Temporary enrolment increases after start of year (Teachers only)
  • Temporary increase in part-timers hours (ESOs only)
• Casual – hired & paid by the day, max 1 term.

The Modern Awards have even more restricted “Fixed term employment” with teachers having a max of 12 months. For General Staff there is no provision for temporary or fixed term employment. The only categories are Full-time, Part-time or Casual.

The IEU Position is that:

• If the role is a continuing role, then the employment basis should be ongoing. (either full time or part time)
• There is no genuine need to deviate from the above general criteria and limits.
• If your employer attempts to introduce “contract” employment it should be resisted on the basis of failing the “needs of employee” vs “needs of school” test.
• Probation, performance management and redundancies handle the “flexibilities” employers claim to seek to fix.
• It is unconscionable to increase the number of short term employees just on the off chance that the employer may wish to discard some of them later with a minimum of administrative fuss.