Secure Jobs Better Future

The ACTU Executive yesterday endorsed an agenda of tax reform priorities designed to tackle growing inequality and unfairness in our economic system and help create better, higher-paying jobs. The plan, Tax reform for a fairer society and strong economy, calls for action in five key areas of tax reform: reducing…

A new report released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) today (7 March 2016) reveals that Australian women are financially disadvantaged at every key stage of their life: in childhood, at the workplace, through pregnancy, motherhood and as a carer, and in retirement. The ACTU’s Gender Pay Gap…

The Australian tax system is tangled up in a web of subsidies, exemptions and arrangements that unfairly advantage the top 10 per cent of income earners, do nothing to drive innovation or productivity growth and hold us back from investing in nation-building. Capital gains tax exemptions, superannuation tax breaks, negative…

Last week the ASU appeared at the public hearings of the Senate inquiry into the economic security for women in retirement. This was a follow up to the submission we lodged last year. At the hearing we tried to draw a picture for the Senators that could capture the overriding…

This weekend 27-28 February 2016, hundreds of union members and community volunteers will be door-knocking across the country. We will be talking to people about the issues that will affect them like their rights at work, their income levels, Medicare cuts that threaten their health, and others. >> Click here…

The ACTU is launching a major campaign against the sell-off and cuts to Medicare, with a targeted broadcast and online advertising blitz, followed by a door knock in 22 marginal seats and community protests around the country. New polling released today shows the majority of Queenslanders and Victorians do not…

The Australian Council of Trade Unions today raised deep concern about reports the Government is planning to take an axe to superannuation, leaving millions of Australians working well into their 70s. ACTU President Ged Kearney said the increase in superannuation to 12.5 per cent was always designed to ensure working…

The ASU supports Dave Oliver's call for a national, broad based, independent anti-corruption body. Singling out only trade unions, as numerous Coalition Governments have done over the years, has been a waste of time and money when the greatest incidence of corruption in Australian society has been elsewhere. The ASU…

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is currently deciding whether to cut or protect weekend penalty rates and they have opened up submissions from the public - the Commissioners want to hear from you! The ASU is encouraging all our supporters to raise your voices in defence of the weekend. >>…

Ordinary people are just looking for a fair tax deal but when we read in the papers about bodies like "The Board of Taxation" which allegedly represents our "broader community perspective", as well as business, it just adds insult to injury. The Federal Government's little known tax advisory body is…