Unions are deeply concerned the China Free Trade Agreement, expected to be announced today, will undermine local jobs and increase unemployment. The Abbott Government has been deliberately vague on the details about labour mobility and labour market testing clauses within the agreement. However, the government's own fact sheet released after…

A Senate committee has recommended passing legislation which will leave nearly 400,000 workers covered under Comcare, the national workers' compensation scheme, with inadequate cover if they are injured or ill at work. Unions are disappointed the Senate committee examining the Abbott Government's Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Comcare) Bill has recommended…

All National Office Bearer positions (5) in the ASU are up for re-election by members of the National Executive this year as follows: National President National Vice-President National Secretary Assistant National Secretaries (2)   Nominations open on Wednesday 17 June and close at 12 noon (AEST) on Wednesday 8 July…

Greg McLean, National Head of the ASU Local Government and Public Services Team, has supported the call by the Australian Local Government Association to restore federal government Financial Assistance Grants to local government.  He stated that “the grants should be restored, so as not to deprive communities of crucial local…

The ASU has lodged a submission with the Federal Government inquiry into federal taxation, including what Australians and businesses pay, as well as how the tax is shared around to benefit Australian citizens. This is an important area for the ASU to speak up for members and the community on…

On Wednesday 3 June 2015 your ASU representatives met with helloworld representatives to kick of negotiations for your new enterprise agreement. We presented management with the ASU log of claims – the document setting out the improvements we want to your current working conditions. In particular we told management that…

This edition contains a summary of blog items published by Greg McLean in the previous calendar month. Items cover the areas of local government, energy and water, rail and public transport, international news including trade agreements, privatisation and general public sector matters. The articles all relate to the blog of…

Your ASU national negotiating team have been meeting with the company to try and finalise a deal. With 4 EBAs with different finish dates and different conditions and rates it is not a simple task – there are changes that you have told us you want to the EBAs to…

Australia’s 1.86 million lowest paid workers will receive a $16 increase to their weekly pay packets following the Fair Work Commission’s decision in the annual wage case today. This increase is not enough to close the growing gap between average and minimum wages that is putting enormous pressure on our…

After participating in workplace meetings across Australia, ASU members at have overwhelmingly voted to endorse the ASU AaE EBA deal negotiated and recommended by the ASU's AaE National Negotiating Team. The ASU has advised AaE /Qantas management of these results. We are just finalising the drafting of the new EBA…