On 15th March 2017 Aerocare management provided their first draft of the proposed new agreement for staff. You have probably seen it by now and what you will notice (apart from some very poor drafting and ambiguous clauses) is that the draft excludes casuals and permanent full time staff from…

Last week, Sally McManus, a unionist from the ranks of the Australian Services Union, officially took on the role of ACTU Secretary and ever since, we’ve barely had a moment to sit back to celebrate the fact. Sally has made a running start to the job of leading the Australian…

When the ASU shared the video clip of Pauline Hanson's views on penalty rates (ie. get rid of them altogether, not just cut rates for Sundays and public holidays) we knew before any polling verified it that it would be devastating for One Nation, along with the Liberals and Nationals.…

On Wednesday 15 March 2017 ASU and TWU delegates from around the country held a meeting with dnata management about the new company they have set up and the underhanded way in which they tried to sneak the AHSA agreement and quite possibly the Aviation Ground Resources agreement through the…

Nurses, teachers, cleaners, community, social, disability and construction workers are all at risk of having their penalty rates cut following the recent Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has received independent legal advice that shows the FWC decision opens the door to penalty rate…

Your ASU national negotiating team met with REX management on 7th March 2017. This meeting was the first in a series of meetings to be held with REX in order to progress REX Bulletin, negotiations for the new Enterprise Agreement at REX. The next bargaining meeting will be on 28th…

This year, as our way of marking #IWD2017, the ASU is encouraging supporters of women’s rights to wear the instantly iconic #PussyHat to support the theme of #HandsOffMyRightsAU. Although the symbolic headwear originated as a protest against Trump in the United States, there are infringements on women’s rights all around…

The ASU and bargaining representatives met with Emirates for the 6th meeting on Monday, 13 February 2017. Emirates presented a new mandate for 2017, revising their previous claims to accommodate the announcement from Dubai that globally, staff would be looking at pay and hiring freezes. All bargaining representatives interrogated the…

As was outlined in the ASU’s previous bulletin, dnata has been caught red handed setting up a new business with a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) whilst at the same time a labour hire company “coincidentally” has set up another company with a second EBA that is virtually identical. What…

How a once-off street party became an iconic annual event Today, everyone acknowledges the iconic status of the annual Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras as both a key Australian cultural and political event, even its opponents admit this. Bitterly. However, few know the origins of the event. Even fewer…