Tens of thousands of Tasmanian workers including 23,900 Tasmanians who have been in casual employment for less than 12 months will fall through the cracks of the Morrison Governments wage subsidy (JobKeeper) package if the Government doesnt take steps to improve the policy when Parliament resumes this week.
Union analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicates that 23,900 Tasmanians in casual employment will miss out due to the Morrison Government excluding casuals who had less than a year with their employer before they were laid off.
This is in addition to the thousands of workers in local government, visa workers and freelancers in Tasmania who are also ineligible.
Unions welcomed the Morrison Governments announcement that they would implement a wage subsidy. It will allow workers to stay connected to their jobs and be ready to re-start employment again when it is safe to do so. We believe the quantum of the payment should be higher, however, and we are particularly worried about the tens of thousands of Tasmanians who are currently ineligible for the JobKeeper payment as it stands, said Unions Tasmania Secretary, Jessica Munday.
Tasmania had a labour force of approximately 258,000 workers before Covid-19 hit.
We estimate there could be more than 35,000 Tasmanian workers currently ineligible for JobKeeper payment. Thats close to 15% of Tasmanias workforce who wont get that wage subsidy, said Ms Munday.
Ms Munday said Tasmanian unions are calling on Federal Liberal Senators and MPs to lobby the Prime Minister on behalf of Tasmanian workers to improve JobKeeper to ensure no workers is left behind and without adequate support.
Details
When: Today, Monday 6 April
Where: Unions Tasmania, 212 Liverpool Street, Hobart
Time: 11:00am
Unions Tasmania Secretary, Jessica Munday, will be joined by a casual worker ineligible for the JobKeeper payment.
For further information: Jessica Munday 0417 454 809
