At last night’s Leaders’ Debate, Mr Turnbull said the Government must seek “the right outcomes for our children because they are our future.” But which children was he talking about? The ones in our public education system? [Gonski not fully funded beyond 2017, with the Coalition to maintain an inequitable…

The Algerian authorities have blocked an international trade union mission to Western Sahara, refusing to allow Arab Trade Union Confederation Executive Secretary Mustapha Tlili to enter Algeria on his way to Western Sahara. The ASU is a supporter of the Western Sahara struggle for self-determination but the news is also…

Last year the ASU conducted a broad ranging survey on financial insecurity in retirement. We presented a snapshot of some of our findings in our submission to the Senate Inquiry into economic security for women in retirement and appeared at the Senate hearing. We left the politicians in no doubt…

The Business Council of Australia’s failure to produce a shred of economic evidence to justify the Turnbull Government’s corporate tax cuts under questioning from the ABC shows that this policy is not designed to do anything other than hand cash to businesses and, bizarrely, the United States’ Internal Revenue Service.…

Your National Negotiating Team (NNT) have met twice with Qantas since our last bulletin, on 28th April and 11 May 2016. At our last meeting we finally talked about the wage freeze. Qantas says their key claim is the wage freeze. In their 2nd and 3rd Qantas bulletins to staff…

This is a critical year when local communities are experiencing the negative impacts of significant budget constraint imposed by all levels of government. Nevertheless it is a time when investment in services and infrastructure is of utmost importance to the resilience of local communities. For this reason the ASU is…

Barely eight days after it was announced, the Turnbull Government’s internship plan is in tatters, with employment law experts questioning the legality of its Youth Jobs PaTH program under the current legislative framework – potentially blowing a $478 million black hole in the budget. According to legal advice received by…

Unions will today continue their fight for a $30 a week increase to the minimum wage at the Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review. The Government and industry groups have continued their opposition to the increase. On the ABC’s Q&A panel on Monday night, Australia witnessed how out of touch…

Since our last bulletin we have had 2 meetings with the employer representatives on 26th April and 5th May and we have been to the Fair Work Commission on 29th April 2016. There is no doubt we have been putting in a lot of time trying to bring some of…

The ACTU today warned that the PaTH internship program unveiled in yesterday’s budget not only poses a serious risk for young people and inexperienced workers, but could also undermine Australia’s entire wage system. Instead of employing a worker on the minimum wage, businesses would be able to access a pool…