AWA and the next step for employers

Once the Howard government has demolished the unions, particularly with the help from big business, you will see the next step in the process of Industrial reform.

AWA's will be subject to scrutiny, generally no one can be paid less than the award and employees will be compensated to some extent for the loss of some entitlements.

The next step is to avoid AWA's altogether by hiring persons not as employees, but hiring persons to provide services as a subcontractor. On the surface this may seem appealing to some workers as they may feel they are more in control of the work they do and they can act as their own boss.

The disadvantage of this is the business engaging your services do not have to pay you the award rate of pay or any entitlements whatsoever that an employee would enjoy. As an example, there are orchestras working in Sydney with members that have been paid fees of about 40% below the award rate for over 6 years with no other entitlements whatsoever.

Loss of entitlements would include: no overtime rate of pay, no sick pay, no holiday pay, no termination pay, no redundancy payout, no employer funded superannuation, Inadequate workers compensation, no enforcement of workplace safety.

To enforce workplace safety the individual would have to approach the employer and the employer would most likely react by not using that particular subcontractor to provide his/her services.

Workers compensation would be inadequate because the employer only pays a premium based upon the payments made to the subcontractor. Subcontractors cannot obtain their own workers compensation as this is not available to them, as most subcontractors are regarded as "sole traders".

All in all, it looks pretty grim for the average worker and very rosy for big business.

avoid AWA with subcontractors

The recent hype about the Howard government Initiatives does not bode well for the music industry in Australia. There is no attempt to produce a fair system that protects musicians and entertainers against possible exploitation by venue managers.

It seems that the idea of being able to earn a living playing music is nearly impossible for the working musician.

The biggest problem is that most musicians do not usually work at one venue as their form of employment so it is difficult for them to claim they are employees if a dispute arose, they are hired as "subcontractors".

This means that there is no necessity for the venue manager to pay the musician or entertainer the award rate of pay and other entitlements that would be applicable to an "employee".

There are orchestras with members that currently work in Sydney for about 40% less than the award rate. They are not adequately covered for workers compensation as the venue manager may only pay a premium on whatever he pays the subcontractor, not the award rate. There are no allowances for travel etc. The musicians/entertainers in the orchestra are paid in cash without any invoices produced, so they can simply be guided toward a "cash economy".

There are no entitlements whatsoever, for instance: no travelling allowance, no sick pay, no notice for dismissal, no termination pay, no amenities, for instance, the band wears a uniform and they have to change in a public toilet (the change room is now a storeroom)

This form of employment is legal and not in breach of Industrial Law according to the Office of Industrial relations.(O.I.R.) Work Choices has no interest in how sub contractors are treated.

It seems that the continual degradation of the entertainment industry may mean that the thousands of young musicians in School Orchestras are wasting their time if they think they may earn a living in the music industry.