The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says the battle against workforce casualisation is all in the name of a better standard of living.
More than 2 million Australians are deemed casual workers, despite the fact there is no standard definition of what a casual is.
Around 40 per cent of those workers are between 15 and 24 years old, and just over half are women.
The ACTU is calling for a sharper definition of casual work and the option for those workers to convert to permanent positions after six months of regular work with one company.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus says it is a matter of securing basic rights for the workers involved.
"Do we want to have a country where we've got more than half the workforce in insecure work, where your own people are so stressed because they're in casual work they can't plan for the future, they can't get loans, they don't even know where they're going to work the next day, they've got to wait for text messages? Or do we want a society like there is in many other parts of the world where people have jobs they can count on?"
The ACTU says casual employment was once largely restricted to retail and hospitality workers.
But it says the rise of what it calls "fake casuals" has contributed to plunging more than half of Australians into insecure work.
Sally McManus says workers' rights need to be restored.
"Our rights aren't strong enough. Employers are able to call people 'casuals' -- fake casuals -- when they're not casuals. They tell them to go and get an ABN number when they're actually permanent workers. They convert them to labour hire just to reduce their wages and conditions. All of these are loopholes that need to be shut down so that we make sure we once again have good, steady jobs."
Ms McManus says it is up to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to ensure Australia is not split between those entitled to paid holiday leave and those who are not.
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor says casual employment undermines job and financial security and makes it more challenging to organise a loan.
And he says it deprives people of the opportunity to paid-leave entitlements.
"Yes, we need to have a component of casualisation in the labour market. It deals with peaks and troughs. It fills permanent work when required. But it should not be the mainstay of Australian employment."
But the Australian Industry Group's Stephen Smith argues restricting casual employment is a ridiculous proposition.
He has told 3AW Radio the proposed changes would harm both businesses and the broader community.
Mr Smith says they would also impact flexible work arrangements.
"Imposing restrictions on casual employment will have a big impact on employment levels. It will have a big impact on business and the access to the flexible work arrangements that they need."
Labor says, if it wins the next election, it would hold meet with employers and unions before committing to defining casual work in legislation or setting any test for when workers are casual.
The Opposition is also examining the ACTU's push to block employers from refusing requests by casuals to convert to permanency after 12 months.
Under a Fair Work Commission ruling in July, employers can still refuse such requests on what are deemed reasonable grounds.
They include situations which would require significant changes to casual employees' hours of work or where a position would foreseeably no longer exist within a year.
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