Labour hire class actions hit a wall but the issue remains a political hot potato

END OF THE ROAD: A High Court decision in August last year, following a March 2021 retrospective change to the Fair Work Act, has led to discontinuation notices being filed and accepted in the Federal Court. But other actions appear to still be on foot. Either way, casual or 'insecure' employment is still an election issue.

THE rise of "casual" employment - and not only in the coal industry - poses some of the most vexing questions facing workplace standards in this country.

Once used only in a "peripheral" sense in mining, labour hire has taken hold to the point where some 35 per cent of the region's mine workers are employed as "casuals".