Australia's minimum wage will be reduced to 44% of average weekly earnings, wiping off $136 per week in today's dollars, if the Commission of Audit recommendations are accepted by the Government. ACTU President Ged Kearney said this radical move represented the biggest attack on Australian wages since the Great depression.…

On 1 May 2014, the ASU and your employee bargaining representatives met with management to commence negotiations for a new Enterprise Agreement. Management have put a proposed agreement on the negotiating table, with new wages rate and classifications. The Agreement is significantly different from the 2009 Agreement and will change…

The Federal Government's Commission of Audit report released today in Canberra recommends a real cut to the minimum wage every year for a decade, and then for it to be scrapped. The ACTU attacked the Commission of Audit report as a blueprint written by the big business lobby for the…

This week your ASU National Negotiating Team (NNT), Doris Nykanen, Steph Keady and Joseph Mifsud from Sydney and Brett Whitehead from Melbourne, met with management and provided them a copy of your endorsed claims. The ASU has asked the company for additional information and at the next meeting we will…

Changes to the Fair Work Act proposed by the Abbott Government will saddle workers with unfair individual contracts, potentially cut take home pay and significantly diminish workplace rights. ACTU President Ged Kearney said "These proposals go much further than those indicated in the Coalition's pre-election policy and amount to yet…

  The Australian Services Union's global affiliate Public Services International (PSI) has today released a new report that reveals secret trade negotiations may threaten public services across the globe, including in Australia. The ASU, as the principal union in local government and utilities (water & energy) is alarmed at findings…

The rate of work injuries and deaths in the workplace will increase - bringing loss and heartbreak to families and communities - should life-saving regulations be rolled back nationally as they have been in Queensland. ACTU President Ged Kearney said, today, Worker's Memorial Day, was a sobering reminder of why…

ASU delegates and officials again met with Qantas domestic airports' management to get both an update on the restructuring plans for service and sales desk and baggage services but also to hear what decisions had been made about the management restructure. On the plans for service and sales desk and…

Blacktown Council has approved the establishment of an Executive Leadership Team to investigate improving and expanding the Council's child care services. This committee will oversee the running of child care until at least June 2015. At Council's ordinary meeting on Wednesday 9 April, 2014, it was agreed upon by all…

Australian unions today said that trade deals can't be negotiated at the expense of Australian workers and local jobs following reports that Prime Minister Tony Abbott is facing demands from China that it be allowed to bring in workers for projects funded by Chinese investors. ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said…