News
Electricity Privatisation in Australia - A Briefing Note
11 October 2012
The ASU is hailing a recently published paper from the University of Sydney that supports the public ownership of the Australian electricity industry. The briefing paper shows that it's not only service, jobs and regional employment that are affected, but it's financially more beneficial for the community and state governments…
UNI launches international Work-Life Management Action
10 October 2012
UNI P&M group has launched its Work-Life Management fortnight of action to challenge the long hours and short breaks culture that is being taken for granted in many workplaces around the world. The ASU is an affiliate of UNI and supports this action. You can view this article on the…
A new report has confirmed business off-shoring practices are costing Australia 20-25,000 administrative and financial services jobs every year. The report, Off-shore and Off Work prepared for the Finance Sector Union and the Australian Services Union by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIEIR), confirms that 2008 estimates…
World Day for Decent Work 2012: new report shows insecure work phenomenon rising across globe
07 October 2012
A new report highlighting the growth of insecure work across the globe, released in time for World Day for Decent Work, is disturbing evidence that employers around the world are joining forces to erode workers' rights and conditions through labour hire. ACTU President Ged Kearney said the report, The Triangular…
We need to talk about pregnancy discrimination
03 October 2012
The union movement has been at the forefront of many successful campaigns addressing the rights of women in the workplace. Paid and unpaid maternity leave are key conditions in your agreements. More recently, the union movement participated around the country to achieve paid parental leave for all Australians. In light…
Update on ownership changes at AaE and StarTrack
02 October 2012
One of the worst kept secrets in Australian Aviation about the change of ownership of AaE and StarTrack has now been made public. Qantas announced today that it is to buy out Australia Post's share of AaE and Australia Post will buy out the Qantas share of StarTrack, once the…
NEAMI Agreement 2012 – time to VOTE
02 October 2012
The NEAMI draft agreement has been issued by management and is subject to a ballot of staff from 4 October to 11 October 2012. The offer is for a 3 year agreement with 3% pay increase in July each year. All staff covered by the agreement will have the opportunity…
JTG - We are worth more!
28 September 2012
That was the clear message that the JTG National Negotiating Team (NNT) have sent to management at the two most recent EBA meetings on 3rd and 25th September 2012. At our last meeting we tabled a comprehensive pay structure with transparent pay steps which we say reflect our true worth…
Tell the Senate why penalty rates matter
28 September 2012
Recently Senator Xenophon introduced a bill to parliament that would scrap penalty rates for thousands of workers. Despite hundreds of emails sent to the Senator asking him to Bin his Bill, he hasn't listened and more employers are joining him. Now it's time to tell the Senate direct what individual…
Australian Parliament must stop the push to strip penalty rates from people who work on Grand Final day
28 September 2012
Australians' enjoyment of the biggest sporting weekend of the year is under threat from a push by employers and politicians to create a 24/7 economy and abolish penalty rates, say unions. The ACTU has called on Parliament to reject a push to strip penalty rates from hundreds of thousands of…