ARA Welcomes certainty on casuals

Retail’s largest peak body, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) today welcomed the progress of reforms to casual employment in the industrial relations Bill to be debated by Parliament this week.

ARA CEO Paul Zahra said the Bill has been a long time coming and will hopefully add much needed certainty and choice for retailers and their employees during a critical period of economic recovery.

“The ARA has spent many months engaging with Government, our members and other industry stakeholders on this issue within the Federal Government working groups, and we look forward to seeing some of the fruit of that labour in this week’s Bill,” he said.

“The uncertainty surrounding causal employment has been a significant pain point for retailers for years. The Workpac v Rossato court decision this year added even more stress when many retailers were battling for survival within the most uncertain economic environment in decades.

“We commend the Government and Attorney-General Christian Porter for continuing to drive this reform agenda. The benefits of this reform will be seen in the confidence by which the retail industry, as Australia’s largest private sector employer, can move ahead with its hiring plans for next year.

“The ARA’s consistent view, which we communicated during the process, is that it is critical for employers and employees to be given certainty. If the reforms we have advocated for are successful, we expect to see more robust hiring decisions by our sector in 2021,” said Mr Zahra.

/Public Release. View in full here.