The event was organised by CPOW and the Business & Human Rights Centre (BHRIGHT)

Insecure work has been a driver of COVID-19 transmission, revealing the prevalence of vulnerable workers and its society-wide flow-on effects. Yet there have been recent initiatives to address insecure work including the Victorian Labour Hire and Wage Theft Acts, the 2017 Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017, and Job Keeper and Seeker programs. Have these legal changes been making a difference to workers? If they have not been reaching workers, then what are the blockers and barriers and how can they be overcome to foster more sustainable and inclusive work?

Roundtable aims:

• To explore changes in the conditions of vulnerable workers over the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shut down, focussed on Victorian Workers.
• To identify gaps in services, advice, programs to improve worker conditions. Who is not being reached? Are the services adequate?
• To identify programs that are working and can be supported and scaled up.

Presenters:

• Gabrielle Marchetti, JobWatch

• Shelley Mallet, Brotherhood of St Lawrence and the University of Melbourne
• Jenni Smith, Northern Community Legal Centre
• Miriam Thompson, Cleaning Accountability Framework