The Federal Government is introducing legislation this week that will see casual workers in the black coal industry receive the same long-service leave entitlements as their full time counterparts.
Right now casual workers work a compressed fortnightly roster with longer hours in the first week and shorter hours in the second so the weekly counting of their hours that is reported denies them the same entitlements as full time workers.
Levies paid by employers to the Coal Mining Industry (Long-Service Leave Funding) Scheme must also include casual loading. This will ensure that casuals do not take a pay cut when accessing their long-service leave entitlement.
There are about 6,000 casual workers nationwide who will be benefiting from the legislation, a vast majority of those in the Hunter region.
Hunter MP Dan Repacholi said the change will make a huge difference.
“Here in the Hunter there would be a large proportion because of how we work with the mining industry, there are a lot of casuals involved in the mining industry and many other industries was well in the Hunter but the mining sector is certainly the one where they are most disadvantaged currently.
“Workers deserve to paid what they are entitled to, and the averaging of hours across a roster cycle will mean 6,000 workers are getting a fair long service leave balance so that when they take the leave they aren’t taking a pay cut.
Minister for Workplace Relations Tony Burke said the fix will benefit an estimated 6,000 workers.
“There’s no excuse for dudding workers out of their entitlements,” Minister Burke said.
“Casuals in the black coal mining industry deserve fair treatment. They deserve the long-service leave entitlements they earned.”