New laws affect Australian fashion industry

New laws, under the Fair Work Amendment (Textile, Clothing and Footwear Industry) Bill 2011 passed into law last month. The Bill is designed to protect outworkers from exploitation by ensuring that employers provide them with at least 20 hours of work each week. The effect is that a person now working from home will not be treated as an independent contractor, but as a permanent, part-time employee with guaranteed work.

The Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia campaigned for these changes, claiming, in submissions to the Senate review of the legislation, that outworkers were often getting paid as little as $3 per hour.

However, fashion designers in Australia are concerned that these changes might lead to job losses, and impact harshly on the domestic fashion industry. A Facebook group, ‘Save the Australian Fashion Industry,’ has been set up, with the page stating that “home based sub-contractors in the TCF have lost their right to control their own business as is possible in other industries.”

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