The government has a bill in parliament to allow casuals across all industries to ask employers to convert them t0 part-time or full-time work. The legislation is designed to ensure all employees, as in everybody, are covered by a new clause created by the Fair Work Commission in 85 awards, which came into effect in October. As such the legislation could over-ride lawyerly constructed enterprise agreements which make conversion harder than needs be.

A learned reader suggests that this is good news for the army of casuals, notably junior academics, who carry big teaching loads but do not necessarily know if they have a job one semester to the next. However, another LR, versed in enterprise bargaining suggests the bill will not overly alarm universities which have dealt with casuals’ requesting conversions since the ‘90s.