Casual Worker’s Manifesto

The overly optimistic assessments of the economic conditions that are accompanying the communicative innovations associated with the Information Age; a transition to the Human State of Affairs precipitated by the digitalization of documents and the information they express; falls flat on the face when challenged with the empirical reality in which laborers now find themselves. The fastest growing demographic in American society are single females - working for the modest salary of $20,000 to $30,000 - who tend to relocate every 3 to 5 years. I submit that the nomadic existence that is suffered by so many in the contemporary workforce - who go from job to job as contingent, contractual labor - is a direct consequence of the flattening of labor markets, which is, in turn, a manifestation of the expansion of digital communications. As much as individuals enjoy the flexible working environments - a rhetorical device used to promote the casual workers labor market - I think that they would prefer to have access to medical coverage, not to mentioned a sustained expectation of a niche in the economy; a benefit that more and more Americans are finding to be in a state of scarcity.
With this said, I will republish one of the most significant works that have been published on this site -yet, all too overlooked - by an Australian sociologist, who was influential in the original shaping of this Web design and content management project. The following is an extract from a contribution by Bill Templer:
“hard work, competition, motivation, self-reliance, flexibility, boldness, daringness, innovation and success…essential components of the entrepreneurial individual” (Kenny 1999 p. 54).
Great on the surface, but what of those people that don’t possess the education, skills and mindset to become entrepreneur’s? They get left behind! We are no longer creatures of the jungle where only the strong survive; we formed civilised society so that we could work together and help those that are weaker, slower and disadvantaged. Why? Because it is in our best interests and we will achieve a lot more together than alone!
This enterprise culture has manifested itself in Australian employment policies with the introduction of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA’s), the promotion of contract labour, a decrease in collective bargaining and an increase in casual labour. These policies are articulated as “providing flexibility and choice to Australian workers”, “everyone can be their own boss, while promoting economic growth for the great nation that is Australia.”
However, there are a few things that stand in the way of this growth, mainly the liability that is paying workers unnecessary benefits such as holiday pay, sick pay and overtime. But the one thing that provides the greatest obstacle to the implementation of these policies is a unified force of workers; together, we would never accept policies that hurt us, but alone, there is not much we can do.
We have to start making our collective voice heard, whether it be by joining a union or taking part in this forum, or dobbing in a dodgy boss [informing on a tricky boss]; We can fight for a fair go, for a decent share of the profits of our employers and for decent working conditions, But we must do it together. CASUAL WORKERS. UNITE!

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