ASU condemns big business on ‘rights and cash grab’ and attacks on employees working from home
The Australian Services Union will condemn the Australian Industry Group (AIG) on new attempts to rip away hard-won rights for workers who work from home.
The AIG proposal would see existing rights such overtime pay, remove penalty rates, meal breaks stripped away and allow employers to roster staff on for as little as 30 minutes a day, all because an employee works from home.
ASU National Secretary Emeline Gaske said the attack was the biggest act of workplace discrimination she had seen as a unionist and a “dummy spit” from big business after their anti-worker agenda was rejected at the last Federal election.
WHO: ASU Assistant National Secretary Emeline Gaske and workers
WHEN: 10:30 am
WHERE:
Fair Work Commission 11 Exhibition St,
Melbourne
Media Contact: Tim O’Halloran 0409 059 617
MEDIA RELEASE
17 June 2025
Big business ‘rights and cash-grab’ on people working from home
The Australian Services Union (ASU) has condemned a new attempt by big business to rip away hard-won rights from workers who work from home, calling it a “cynical and backward step that would drag workplace standards back decades”.
In a case before the Fair Work Commission, the Australian Industry Group (AIG) is pushing to gut existing protections for workers based on where they do their job.
ASU National Secretary Emeline Gaske said the attack was a “massive dummy spit” from big business after their anti-worker agenda was rejected at the last Federal election.
“Even discussing the idea of employers refusing to pay overtime, remove penalty rates, eliminate breaks, and roster staff for as little as 30 minutes a day, all because someone works from home, is an outrage.”
“To try and axe basic workplace rights just because people are working from home is completely out of step with modern workplaces and community attitudes.
“This is a ‘rights and cash grab’, plain and simple. This is big business coming into people’s homes and taking their hard-earned pay and right to reasonable hours work.
“After Peter Dutton’s spectacular misstep on work from home in the election you would think big business would have learned.
“Instead, they are trying to sneak in through your back door to do what the Liberals couldn’t. Stripping away your rights, starting with those who work from home.
“This isn’t about asking for new rights. It’s about stopping the biggest employers in the country from ripping away the rights people already rely on to balance work and life.”
The AIG’s proposal would see working from home used as an excuse to strip away basic entitlements, from overtime to penalty rates, rest breaks, and even minimum shift lengths.
“This isn’t the thin end of the wedge - it’s the thick end of it. If the AIG successfully rips away workers’ rights in the Clerks Award just because you work from home, what can’t they come after?
“Now is the time to lock in national workplace protections and guarantee the right to work from home for all Australians that can do so.”
Ms Gaske said the case shows once again that without legal safeguards, big business can’t be trusted to do the right thing.
“We’ve seen this playbook before, cut wages and conditions bit by bit until there’s nothing left. That’s what the AIG is trying to do here. And the ASU will fight tooth and nail to stop it.”
Contact details:
Tim 0409 059 617