That’s all you got?
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But Albo did say yesterday or Thursday that casuals who are sick should just work from home which is impossible and was going on about businesses already paying sick leave, the $750 payment was never for those people who get sick leave. It was for the casual workers who don’t have that who’ve been forced to isolate for 7 days and lose out on income for a week. He was pressured into brining it back from all sides, unions, state premiers, the opposition. He can’t get a free pass on this. It was a major backflip with terrible messaging from him.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/anthony-albanese-says-sick-casuals-should-just-work-from-home-not-take-sick-leave/news-story/124fdb953e6d6f98da6f5dcdf9b5c3c8
Terrible messaging from him 
.
Bit like ignoring health advice and delaying cabinet meetings under Scudmo?
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Idk about the precedent of these payments long term, I think Albo should have stood his ground. Have people forgotten that casuals get paid 25% more than the contract staff doing the same job as compensation for not getting sick leave?
I thought there was a movement to disincentivise casual work? Sounds like they are on a great deal rn.
I hope the people that called for this remember it when inflation is at 9% and interest rates are skyrocketing in 6 months.
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If you’re a casual working full time hours, then you might be in a position to pocket and save the loading.
Majority of casual workers are those who have insecure work schedules, or low hours per week, and generally with the existing cost of living, there’s not room to be putting aside huge amounts for sick leave, certainly not if they need to take whole weeks off multiple times in the space of a few months because of repeatedly testing positive.
While the government requires isolation, the government must pay for people to isolate.
The massive amounts of jobkeeper payments that went straight to dividends and executive bonuses, and the amount of money that the RBA pumped into the money market during covid to avoid a stock market crash - that’s what is inflationary. Not payments to low income earners.
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Pardon?
jurisdictions of the commonwealth and the commonwealth agreed to continue to provide
consistent health messaging out there: to encourage Australians to follow recommendations provided by the CMO Prof kelly ,these include: wearing masks indoors where appropriate, where people are mixing and cant social distance to be highly encouraged; getting tested and practising good respiratory hygiene; where people are contacts or where its appropriate to work from home
If you’re a casual worker in this economy, to not work full time hours would be by choice, every industry is facing staffing shortages.
After 2.5 years of the pandemic, I think enough time has passed that people can be expected to work in covid into their employment decisions. Part of the deal of casual work is that there is no entitlement to a shift, which they are compensated for.
In 2020 the payments were needed because it would not be reasonable for workers to have a pandemic built into their plans. But in 2022 decisions are setting precedent for the post-pandemic world, there is every chance we’ll be in the same position in 2023 and 2024. Are tax payers on board with funding this forever?
I wouldn’t disagree with that, it’s possible to be critical of both.
I think the stigma of casual workers being big victims is disingenuous, they are in a very good deal at the moment. Employers are throwing money at anyone that can pick up a shift, low risk of falling into unemployment, they don’t need to show any commitment to their employer and now they are getting sick pay too. If we want to do good by low income earners we should focus on those with a fixed income on pre-pandemic EAs.
Unions need to pick a lane, they can’t criticise governments and corporations for having a casualised work force while they fight to make casual work such an enticing offer for employees. Especially with the risk of a recession on the way.
Often casual workers are students, who need to balance being able to afford to live with effective study time.
In addition, while many industries are facing staffing shortages, the flexibility many businesses require of casual employees is a large ask - so “you can work full time hours” generally means doing so in 4-5 hour split shifts, starting early, working late, weekends. Things like reliable transport and the need to sleep, wanting to be able to actually live a life beyond work, etc all limit what you can actually do.
Plenty of people additionally physically can’t push themselves above a number of hours, the kind most likely to be hit hardest by getting covid. Supporting those through a mandatory isolation period is again reasonable.
Countries like the UK have just ended the isolation requirements.
The test would come when this exact situation arises when the new expiration rolls around at the end of September. Either you extend the payment or you end the mandate.
I’m referring also to the idea that the minimum wage increase is supposedly inflationary. Continuing stuff like the Stage 3 tax cuts to high income earners, not clawing back massive rorts to profitable corporations, then complaining the budget is in a poor position.
If people have to ‘tighten their belts’ in an economy struggling to avoid recession - it can’t all come on the backs of people who have been hit hardest.
Thats the point wveryone is become an expert and therefore feel the need to tell everyone what to do though. Pandemic or not we will be living wirh this until the earth goes back to thr ice age. Time to resume nor sl life and let people do what they feel is necessary to protect themselves with covid
Work/life/study balance, physical exhaustion, and transport issues are not exclusive to casual workers, so I don’t think any of that is relevant. The flexibility of work is generally considered a positive for the casual employees, and the reason people pursue it. I could just as easily argue that salary workers are worse off on those fronts; working more unpaid overtime, holding more ongoing responsibility causes more take home stress. And they are more likely to commute in peak hour.
The deal is a lack of entitlements in exchange for 25% loading. Should be closed ended, society doesn’t owe casual workers anything on top of that. Even for covid, a casual has always been expected to stay at home if they have the flu without pay. I don’t see why it’s a different standard for covid especially after 3 years.
Maybe if it was coupled with some other kind of other exchange like a reduced casual loading or salary staff getting a sick bonus it would be more fair.
The government doesn’t require you to stay home for 7 days when you get the flu. The payment also applies to full/part time workers who have no remaining sick/annual leave entitlements - so it’s not a major rewriting of employment law, just accepting that if you make it illegal for a person to work, you should compensate them.
But that’s why moves like the Victorian Government’s Sick Pay Guarantee make sense, you shouldn’t have to work sick, and sick leave for casuals would be best implemented as a floating thing similar to super, perhaps partially funded through opting in to a slight reduction in casual loading and paying that to a central fund, with the rest coming via a scaling payroll tax levy based on the portion of a business’ workforce that are casuals.
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Has anyone had their 4th COVID jab yet?
I had mine yesterday, and the pharmacist I saw said he didn’t know of anyone who had side effects, other than a sore arm.
But last night I had chills, aches, headache and didn’t sleep very well… It’s better today, just fatigued now.
So that’s 3 out of 4 COVID jabs where I have had side effects now 
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I had the sore arm, might have been a bit tired, but nothing else.
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I’m high risk so I had mine in May. 2 x AZ, now 2 x Moderna boosters. No issues at all with AZ, the first Moderna booster made me very tired however I was fine after the second one, aside of a sore arm.
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I had my third dose last month. No side effects at all
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Not eligible for 4th yet, unsure if I’ll get the 4th, but I guess my decision will be based on the current state of Covid strains and infection rates when I do become eligible.
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