Live News Feed: TUC

Just another cog in the machine
A union can make a big difference to people's perceptions of a job.
04 July 2009 [Read More]

Don't risk 2nd rate safety
New South Wales unions have used the right to prosecute employers in a tactical manner to change the behaviour of employers.
03 July 2009 [Read More]

AWU welcomes employee share changes
The Rudd government has reversed key elements of its crackdown on employee share schemes following strong union lobbying about Federal Budget measures which hurt many AWU members.
02 July 2009 [Read More]

Unions, Telstra OK Principles
On the day that the new Fair Work Act has taken effect, the CEPU and other unions along with Telstra have released details of a new Principles Agreement designed to promote a better working relationship into the future (outlined below).
01 July 2009 [Read More]

Hotel workers make history
Today at 9 am on Day One of the Fair Work ACT luxury hotel workers made history. They became the first workers to lodge applications with Fair Work Australia under Australia’s new industrial relations laws. The Fair Work Act came into effect today.
01 July 2009 [Read More]

Time to celebrate new IR laws
New industrial relations laws, which begin today, represent an historic step forward for the rights of working Australians and their families.
01 July 2009 [Read More]

Goodbye WorkChoices, hello Fair Work
Hotel workers employed in Australia's luxury hotels are making last-minute preparations to use Australia's new Fair Work Act which comes into effect tomorrow.
30 June 2009 [Read More]

MUA statement re allegations
MUA statement re allegations against former Qld branch union official
30 June 2009 [Read More]

MUA video of Canberra Iran protests
MUA members and officials joined around 300 unionists, workers and members of the Australian Iranian community outside the Iranian Embassy in Canberra, protesting against the repression of workers' rights in Iran. Watch the video by MUA film maker and waterside worker COOPER SILK
27 June 2009 [Read More]

TWU calls for funds for shot driver
The Transport Workers Union will be asking members and people in the industry to donate money to the family of a truck driver killed after being shot as he was driving his truck in Milperra this morning.
26 June 2009 [Read More]

Iran Embassy refuses to meet protest
The Australian Workers Union faxed a protest letter to the Islamic Republic of Iran's Ambassador to Australia, Ambassador Mahmoud Movahhedi, after he refused today to meet a union delegation.
26 June 2009 [Read More]

AWU backs Vic Bushfire class action
More than 700 people affected by the Black Saturday bushfire in the Kinglake area, Victoria, have registered as members of a class action against power company SP Ausnet.
26 June 2009 [Read More]

ABCC bias exposed
Recent comments by the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner have blown any pretence of the body’s independence out of the water, say unions.
26 June 2009 [Read More]

Unions accuse Turnbull of hypocrisy
Construction unions have slammed a decision by Malcolm Turnbull to block moves aimed at restraining abuse of the coercive powers of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) today.
25 June 2009 [Read More]

Outsourcing an airport risk
A yet to be released report by the Australian Crime Commission has again pointed to the problems of outsourced labour at Australia’s airports, allowing people with criminal records access to extremely sensitive areas of the airport.
25 June 2009 [Read More]

Jewish backing for Iran protests
The leadership of the Australian Jewish community has issued a statement backing protests in Canberra and across the globe tomorrow over the continued persecution and harassment of trade union activists in Iran.
25 June 2009 [Read More]

AWU win for Tongan fruit-pickers
A group of Tongan fruit pickers, who were left unemployed in northern Victoria by the Timbercorp collapse, have secured better jobs after an AWU campaign to properly enforce the Pacific Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme.
24 June 2009 [Read More]

Global Day of Solidarity
On Friday, June 26, a global day of solidarity will be held, calling for justice for Iranian workers. Four global labour organisations, representing more than 170 million workers, are joining forces to fight for the release of Iranian trade unionists who have been jailed for practicing their democratic rights to form trade unions.
23 June 2009 [Read More]

Tehran union demands liberty for all
Vahed Tehran BusWorker Syndicate says any suppression or threat of civil liberty in Iran must be condemned.
20 June 2009 [Read More]

Celebrate Int'l Cleaners Day
NSW cleaners celebrated June 15's International Cleaners' Day by taking to the streets again - this time targeting cleaning company Springmount Services Pty Ltd to demand a Clean Start.
18 June 2009 [Read More]

Property developers big winners
Big construction companies and property developers are crying crocodile tears over the new building industry watchdog that will benefit them at the expense of workers’ rights, say unions.
17 June 2009 [Read More]

ILO praises Histadrut-PGFTU alliance
A new ILO report on the situation of workers in the Occupied Territories takes the time to praise the historic steps taken towards co-operation between the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions and the Histadrut.
17 June 2009 [Read More]

Union welcomes WorkCover super pay
Victoria's Brumby Government reforms to pay superannuation contributions for injured workers and to increase WorkCover payments by 5% are welcome improvements, AWU Victorian Branch Secretary Melhem said today.
17 June 2009 [Read More]

Union construction camp'n continues
Unions vowed today to continue to stand up for construction workers' rights and for an end to the use of coercive powers in the industry.
16 June 2009 [Read More]

Rio attempt to sidestep Rudd IR laws
Mining Union Launches Major Test Case. The ability of major corporations to sidestep new industrial laws giving workers the right to bargain collectively will be challenged in a major test case to be launched today.
16 June 2009 [Read More]

ACTU call to protect workers rights
The Rudd Labor Government must protect workers’ rights and get rid of the Howard Government’s unfair industrial relations laws for the construction industry when it brings in new legislation this week, says the ACTU.
14 June 2009 [Read More]

Don't Risk 2nd Rate Safety Petition
NSW workers enjoy world class workplace safety laws, but they're under threat.
13 June 2009 [Read More]

Oz unions join global Iran protests
Four global union organisations representing over 170 million workers have called a worldwide action day on June 26 to demand justice for Iranian workers.
13 June 2009 [Read More]

Unions welcome ESOP changes
In a submission to Treasury today, four unions welcomed the Government’s proposed changes to employee share ownership schemes (ESOPs).
12 June 2009 [Read More]

CEPU suspends Telstra action
One of Telstra’s main unions has announced that it will immediately suspend its industrial action campaign within the corporation.
11 June 2009 [Read More]

ACTU:Fair work bill not fair for all
Contrary to much of the media coverage of the event, most of our time at the ACTU congress was spent not on the Australian Building and Construction Commission or workplace laws but on discussing the broader agenda of unions about jobs and the economic crisis facing Australia.
11 June 2009 [Read More]

Qld thumbs up to union icon
The people of Queensland have spoken and the historical significance of the Tree of Knowledge has been assured.
11 June 2009 [Read More]

AWU online asbestos register
he Australian Workers Union has taken another step in helping people who have been exposed to asbestos.
10 June 2009 [Read More]

AWU scathing about Rio u-turn
Rio Tinto's decision to walk away from the deal with Chinalco shows finally that the incompetent board and managers of Rio Tinto have decided , finally, on a reality check, AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, said.
05 June 2009 [Read More]

Urgent Sea Change needed: MUA
Australia would face an impossible task to meet a national freight target tipped to double by 2020 and triple by 2050, without making a new national shipping policy an urgent priority.
04 June 2009 [Read More]

TWU evidence to Parl committee
The Federal Secretary of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Mr Tony Sheldon today joined with Mr Ron Finemore AO, Executive Chairman, Ron Finemore Transport Pty Ltd to give evidence about the tight labour market for truck drivers to the House of Representatives Education and Training Committee.
04 June 2009 [Read More]

Major step forward TWU safety fight
An announcement by Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, that she will work to put in place a system of safe rates for our nations’ truck drivers has been welcomed by the Transport Workers Union.
04 June 2009 [Read More]

TWU leads protest against Air NZ
More than a dozen unions led by the Transport Workers Union of Australia (TWU), the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Rail, Bus and Tram Union (RBTU) will hold a protest today in Brisbane in support of Air New Zealand workers who have their pay and conditions dramatically cut by their own company.
04 June 2009 [Read More]

Health workers disgusted by Chaser
Health workers providing care for children with a terminal illness were disgusted by a segment on ABC Television’s Chaser program last night, their union representatives said.
04 June 2009 [Read More]

Time for a Sea Change in Australia
Tomorrow at the Natship09 conference the National Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, Paddy Crumlin, will launch a new platform for the revitalisation of shipping.
03 June 2009 [Read More]

AWU Qld welcomes pandemic leave
The Australian Workers Union has welcomed the Queensland Government decision to provide for Special Pandemic Leave for State public servants as a necessary precaution amid the widening H1N1 influenza.
29 May 2009 [Read More]

Community outrage at Bonds betrayal
A community assembly was set up outside West Swanson Dock in Melbourne over night after word got out that Pacific Brands, manufacturers of the iconic Bonds label, was attempting to ship tax payer funded equipment out of the country.
29 May 2009 [Read More]

QCU prepares community campaign
Queensland unions today set themselves for a political and public campaign against the Bligh Government’s mooted asset fire-sale.
29 May 2009 [Read More]

NSW Gvt must save jobs
The Transport Workers Union and the Textile Footwear and Clothing Union of Australia will hold a media conference today to call on the NSW Government, and Governments across Australia to step in and save jobs.
29 May 2009 [Read More]

Pacific Brands: Stop job offshoreing
Commenting on the secret overnight move by Pacific Brands to ship machinery bought with a government subsidy out of Australia, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:
29 May 2009 [Read More]

Hotelworkers to use new IR laws
Remember John Howard? He was the Prime Minister Australians voted out more than 18 months ago because of his unpopular workplace laws.
27 May 2009 [Read More]

Bad boss, bad for business
A shareholder at yesterday's GPT annual general meeting in Sydney criticised the pushing of new sub-standard employment contracts at hotels owned by the property investment company.
27 May 2009 [Read More]

Coalminers slam Opposition on ETS
Australia’s coalminers have today slammed the Opposition’s decision to block the Federal Government’s emission trading scheme, accusing the Conservative parties of taking a wrecking ball to Australia’s coal industry.
27 May 2009 [Read More]

CFMEU fights new ABCC charges
The CFMEU Construction and General Division has today pledged to fight fresh charges laid by the Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC) against South Australian construction worker, Ark Tribe.
27 May 2009 [Read More]

Blue-collar unions on pension age
Australia’s largest blue-collar unions have written to the Prime Minister seeking a review of the Federal Governments budget decision to raise to 67 the age at which the pension can be accessed and warning that any move to raise the age from which compulsory superannuation can be accessed would be actively contested.
27 May 2009 [Read More]

Telstra workers Wednesday walk-out
Telstra workers have “downed tools” for 24 hours today as part of their industrial action campaign to win a new enterprise agreement.
27 May 2009 [Read More]

CFMEU win on random drug testing
In what it describes as a “significant decision in protecting employees privacy and improving drug and alcohol testing standards throughout the workforce”, the CFMEU Mining and Energy Union has won a major case on random drug testing.
26 May 2009 [Read More]

IR Backdown by Telstra
The announcement by Telstra’s senior managers that the company will abandon its aggressive industrial relations policy and restart negotiations with unions over a new collective agreement is a major win for Telstra staff, says the ACTU.
26 May 2009 [Read More]

Telstra to follow law: Hooray?
When you read today's announcement about Telstra's planned approach to negotiate with employees over a new enterprise agreement, nothing could better demonstrate that little's changed at Telstra.
26 May 2009 [Read More]

AWU record pay-win
AWU members at Fosters Plastics, in outer Melbourne, are celebrating their biggest-ever pay rise after a 25-day picket outside the company's Glenroy factory.
22 May 2009 [Read More]

Unions move against Israel boycott
Last month, the Scottish Trade Unions Congress became the latest in a series of unions to call for a boycott of Israeli products. Support for boycotting, divesting from and sanctions against the Jewish state appears to be growing by leaps and bounds.
21 May 2009 [Read More]

Hotel workers can win
Hotel workers are on their way to making real changes to their jobs and their industry.
20 May 2009 [Read More]

TWU 2009 federal conference
100 Council delegates representing more than 85,000 transport workers from across Australia will today convene in Melbourne to plan for the year ahead as the Federal Council of the Transport Workers Union kicks off its annual conference.
18 May 2009 [Read More]

Unions want Cement workers tested
Unions Tasmania Secretary, Simon Cocker is urging all Tasmanians who have ever worked for Goliath Cement to be part of the lung health screening program Cement Australia is offering.
18 May 2009 [Read More]

LNG jobs for indigenous Aust'ns
The powerful West Australian Kimberley Land Council this week signed an in-principle agreement with five trade unions to campaign for Aboriginal people to be employed on the proposed LNG facility in far north-western Australia.
17 May 2009 [Read More]

Free asbestos testing Tasmania
The Australian Worker’ Union is urging people to take up the offer of a free health screening program if they ever worked at the Goliath Portland Cement Company in Railton, Tasmania.
16 May 2009 [Read More]

Harry Bridges sculpture unveiled
US dockers, members of the ILWU, have paid tribute to the Australian unionist, Harry Bridges, who founded their great union.
16 May 2009 [Read More]

Union wants more bush firefighters
Victoria needs around 1500 extra full-time Forest Firefighters to meet the growing bushfire threat, The Australian Workers Union will tell the Bushfires Royal Commission.
15 May 2009 [Read More]

TWU welcome Safety Council
With more than 280 people killed each year on our nation’s roads due to heavy vehicle incidents, the Transport Workers Union has today welcomed the Federal Government’s announcements of the establishment of the country’s first National Road Safety Council.
13 May 2009 [Read More]

Allan Fels: a ghost from the past
Paddy Crumlin, MUA National Secretary slams former ACCC chief for anti-union crusade - attack on CFMEU
13 May 2009 [Read More]

Ghosts film premiere in Australia
On 5 February 2004, twenty-three Chinese drowned in Morecambe Bay (UK).Their families in China are still paying off their debts.
12 May 2009 [Read More]

Luxury hotels race new IR laws
The LHMU - The hospitality union today calls on the Government to protect low-paid workers by ensuring they can access the new industrial relations laws even if they are covered by unfair, old or rushed agreements.
12 May 2009 [Read More]

Jobs and rights at Budget centre
Safeguarding jobs and respecting workers’ rights in the economic downturn must be at the centre of today’s Federal Budget, say unions.
12 May 2009 [Read More]

Federal Budget judged on jobs
This year's Budget is an opportunity for the Government to demonstrate its commitment to jobs by abolishing the 3.25% efficiency cut across the public service, says the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU).
12 May 2009 [Read More]

Happy International Nurses Day
International Nurses Day will showcase the “wonderful work, skills and care provided by our hard-working nurses”, the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) announced today.
12 May 2009 [Read More]

AWU welcomes BlueScope win
The AWU welcomes the announcement by Prime Minister Rudd, during a visit to the Illawarra, that BlueScope Steel has won a $20 million contract to supply steel for three new Navy destroyers.
11 May 2009 [Read More]

Don't Risk 2nd Rate Safety Petition
A healthy and safe workplace is a right that we can’t take for granted.
11 May 2009 [Read More]

AWU cheers Qantas unions jobs win
The AWU welcomes the move by Qantas to move maintenance work back from The Philippines to Brisbane – securing the jobs of between 400 and 500 Queenslanders.
11 May 2009 [Read More]

Unions welcome paid maternity leave
Unions welcome the historic introduction a universal, government-funded paid maternity leave scheme covering the majority of Australian women and their families.
10 May 2009 [Read More]

New Telstra CEO: Same old, same old?
The main Telstra workers’ union today congratulated David Thodey’s on his expected appointment as Telstra’s new CEO but warned about a “mountain of legacy” left by Sol Trujillo.
08 May 2009 [Read More]

AWU welcomes CPRS decision
The AWU is heartened by the widespread support the Rudd Government has received - from unions, environmental groups and business - for the new targets for reducing emissions.
06 May 2009 [Read More]

TWU safe rates campaign
NSW truck drivers are holding a go-slow tomorrow morning on the National Highways to the north and south of Sydney to protest against the ongoing lack of action over safety and conditions for owner drivers and employee drivers in the road freight industry.
05 May 2009 [Read More]

AWU on good/bad foreign investment
All foreign investments by state-owned companies should be critically scrutinised, to protect our national interest, Australia's main resources union, the AWU, said today.
05 May 2009 [Read More]

Oz unions get Jewish backing
The Australian Jewish community has released an important Statement of Principles supporting the role of Australian unions in the current global economic crisis.
05 May 2009 [Read More]

Sol’s “slash and burn” at Telstra
More than 300 Telstra workers will lose their jobs next month alone as outgoing CEO Sol Trujillo “slash and burns” across the organisation ahead of his June 30 departure, the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) warned today.
04 May 2009 [Read More]

Cessnock prison privatisation off
Corrective Service Minister John Robertson announced that Cessnock jail would not be privatised.
02 May 2009 [Read More]

Qantas employees lodge flu claim
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) will be lodging papers in the Industrial Relations Commission this morning in an effort to have Qantas fulfill its legal responsibilities to front-line workers in the wake of the growing global swine flu threat.
01 May 2009 [Read More]

TWU wants swine flu Qantas meeting
Following concerns raised by workers at the airport, the Transport Workers Union will be calling for an urgent meeting with Qantas and other airlines to discuss what systems are in place to protect employees as a new strain of swine flu is reported to be within reach of Australian shores.
28 April 2009 [Read More]

'000s of coal mine jobs at risk
Miners today warned that thousands of mining jobs could be put at risk if the Queensland State Government axes funding to its $125 million clean coal project and called on the Bligh Government to reaffirm its commitment to support carbon capture and storage technology.
28 April 2009 [Read More]

Construction deaths remembered
Australian construction workers will observe one minute's silence during a nation-wide stoppage today in commemoration of colleagues who have been killed on the job.
28 April 2009 [Read More]

Workers grieve for lost lives
Families of victims of workplace deaths will join with unions at rallies and memorial services tomorrow (Tuesday 28 April) to mark lives lost in workplace accidents.
27 April 2009 [Read More]

Int'l Day of Mourning: see the video
Many of you will know that 28 April is International Workers Day of Mourning.
27 April 2009 [Read More]

Workers need exit rights from AWAs
Hundreds of thousands of Australian workers need an exit strategy from WorkChoices agreements that have locked them into sub-standard pay and conditions for years to come, say unions.
27 April 2009 [Read More]

Hardie must keep victims in the loop
Unions are calling for asbestos victims to be fully informed about the impact of the global financial crisis on the ability of James Hardie to meet its compensation obligations.
23 April 2009 [Read More]

New solutions for skills training
Fresh approaches to national skills training are urgently needed in order to meet the challenges of the economic downturn and to position Australia for a return to growth and prosperity, according to a consortium of peak industry, trade union and youth advocacy bodies.
23 April 2009 [Read More]

Qld casino workers prepare to battle
Almost 200 Treasury Casino union members in Queensland rallied outside the casino in Queens Park, Brisbane on Tuesday 14 April protesting against their employer’s proposed sub-standard, non-union agreement.
22 April 2009 [Read More]

Young victims of Global Crisis
Measures must be taken to prevent a generation of young Australians becoming victims of long-term unemployment as a result of the Global Financial Crisis, say unions.
22 April 2009 [Read More]

Fight steel dumping in Australia
The AWU is calling on Labor MPs, Senators and Labor Premiers to get actively behind the AWU New Steel Plan and has put a priority on stopping steel being dumped on the Australian market, at unfair prices.
22 April 2009 [Read More]

Vote a union icon in as a Qld symbol
Queenslanders are being invited to mark 150th anniversary of the formal separation from New South Wales this year by voting for home grown icons.
20 April 2009 [Read More]

Telstra job cuts threat to NBN
One of the major unions in Telstra has warned that the corporation's continued push to cut jobs threatens the local telco industry's ability to be part of Federal Government plans to rollout its new National Broadband Network.
14 April 2009 [Read More]

Leadership needed to save Pt Kembla
Steel plant furnaces across the globe are shutting down and many may well not re-open, after the global economic crisis is over, the Australian steel union warned today.
14 April 2009 [Read More]

Nanotech health and safety risk
The rapidly growing nanotechnology market in Australia requires urgent regulation to protect the health and safety of workers and consumers, say unions.
13 April 2009 [Read More]

Rights on Site TV's safety call
This week hundreds of construction workers from across Australia met to deliver a message to Julia Gillard MP about the Rights on Site campaign and get the Government to focus on safety in the construction industry where one worker is killed every week.
09 April 2009 [Read More]

JOB Network worker rallies
Unemployed job placement workers and their supporters will rally around the nation today at protest meetings against the Federal Government's Job Network decision.
08 April 2009 [Read More]

Construction unions stand for safety
Nationwide meetings of construction workers will today condemn the use of coercive powers by the Australian Building and Construction Commission and will vote on a campaign of industrial action to get rid of the Building and Construction laws.
07 April 2009 [Read More]

Rio ineptitude seen in jobs sackings
The Australian Workers Union has slammed the Rio Tinto Board for once again demonstrating their incompetent decision-making processes with the retrenchment of nearly 700 Queensland workers.
07 April 2009 [Read More]

National jobs protest -April 8
Join the national protest - be part of the solution. Wednesday 8th April at 1pm in your capital city. Download the flyer for details. For further information about the campaign visit http://www.saveourjobs.com.au/
06 April 2009 [Read More]

5000 jobs in Jobs Network gone
Up to 5,000 job placement workers could be unemployed following last night’s announcement of new employment service contracts.
04 April 2009 [Read More]

Wilcox Report discriminates: ACTU
Construction workers will have fewer rights than other employees and will continue to be discriminated against if the recommendations of the Wilcox Inquiry are adopted, unions say.
03 April 2009 [Read More]

Wilcox Report misses safety issues
Construction workers today said the Wilcox report on the future of the Australian Building and Construction Commission fell short of addressing the real issue of safety in the construction industry, where statistics show one worker dies each week.
03 April 2009 [Read More]

Rocky water to be corporatised
Local council workers have slammed plans by Rockhampton Regional Council to corporatise water and sewerage facilities.
03 April 2009 [Read More]

Rig workers helicopter worries
The MUA-AWU Offshore Alliance has begun an information consultation program with members after another helicopter has crashed into the North Sea while carrying rigs workers to shore.
03 April 2009 [Read More]

Only unions can win BHP safety
The Australian Workers Union is amazed at the spin-doctoring the WA Mines Minister, Norman Moore, has been able to get away with, claiming unprecedented steps to issue stop-work notices, and hyping up the possibility of legal action.
02 April 2009 [Read More]

Local jobs for new infrastructure
The Australian Workers Union welcomes the Victorian Government decision to proceed with the Frankston bypass, and calls on the Government to ensure Australian steel and cement are used in the $750 million road project.
02 April 2009 [Read More]

Join prison privatisation protest
Join the big virtual protest, add your voice to the thousands campaigning to keep prisons under Government control.
02 April 2009 [Read More]

Union camp'n: Save Job Network jobs
The Federal Government’s proposed radical overhaul of employment services is causing fear and loathing throughout the employment services sector says the employment services union, the Australian Services Union.
02 April 2009 [Read More]

Union Elder remembered
The Tribal Elder who kept Australia's labour movement at the centre of our national culture, Laurie Short, was remembered fondly at an unusual State Memorial Service today in the historic Sydney Trades Hall.
01 April 2009 [Read More]

G20 - unions call for action
Trade union leaders from around the world are converging on London this week to press their case at the G20 Summit on the global economic crisis. Meetings with the Summit host British Prime Minster Gordon Brown on Tuesday and Australian Prime Minster Kevin Rudd on Wednesday will round off dozens of similar meetings with heads of governments, organized by national union leaders in their home countries since the beginning of last week. Summit-eve discussions with French President Sarkozy, Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero and German Finance Minister Steinbrueck took place on Monday.
31 March 2009 [Read More]

TWU members return to work
Qantas baggage handlers, ramp, fleet and catering staff are returning to work at Sydney's international and domestic terminals this afternoon after stopping work this morning over safety issues.
30 March 2009 [Read More]

Qantas workers stop work over safety
Qantas employees at Sydney's international and domestic terminals have walked off the job this morning over safety and security concerns throughout the Qantas group of companies' operations.
30 March 2009 [Read More]

Gvt must delay Jobs Network decision
The union representing workers in the Federal Government’s Jobs Network today warned a range of welfare programs were at risk if the government pushed on with plans to review the employment services sector.
30 March 2009 [Read More]

Comm Bank must keep jobs promise
The union representing bank workers is calling on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Bankwest to stand by the commitment given to stakeholders that no Bankwest jobs would be slashed following CBA's takeover of the Western Australian bank.
30 March 2009 [Read More]

Unions to G20: rebuild world economy
More than 200 million workers around the world face being pushed into extreme poverty unless co-ordinated and urgent action is taken to stimulate economic growth in response to the global financial crisis, global unions have warned ahead of the G20 Leaders Summit in London.
28 March 2009 [Read More]

AWU challenge to Brumby pay policy
The new Victorian Government public sector wages policy, announced today, was an unjustified and inflexible step backwards for many working people, according to the Victorian Secretary of The Australian Workers Union, Cesar Melhem.
27 March 2009 [Read More]

State Memorial Service Laurie Short
The NSW Premier Nathan Rees announced today that a State Memorial Service will be held for Mr Laurie Short.
27 March 2009 [Read More]

Aussie wharves are crime free
All Australian waterside workers and MUA members have been cleared by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) with the Maritime Union and Ports Australia yesterday dismissing political allegations by the Federal Opposition of bikie gang or criminal infiltration of the wharves.
26 March 2009 [Read More]

No way pay cuts for childcare
Serena Kershaw, ACT childcare professional, is concerned about the value Australians place on the importance and potential of high quality early childhood experiences for children.
26 March 2009 [Read More]

Laurie Short iconic figure
One of the great figures of the Australian labour movement, Laurie Short, the Secretary of the Federated Ironworkers Association from 1951 to 1982, passed away, aged 93 on Tuesday afternoon in Sydney.
25 March 2009 [Read More]

Garnaut U-turn a mad lashing out
Professor Garnaut seems to have done a complete U-turn on compensation as part of an Australian emissions-trading scheme.
24 March 2009 [Read More]

Chesty Bonds moves to sweatshops?
Oxfam is calling on Pacific Brands and other major Australian clothing companies to take more responsibility for the rights of the overseas workers who make their goods. This follows today’s release of a report that found a Hong Kong-based company that coordinates the manufacture of some Pacific Brands products rates poorly on efforts to eradicate sweatshops.
23 March 2009 [Read More]

Pollies hold up urgent mine meeting
The AWU is angry that the West Australian Mining Industry Advisory Committee will not meet till, at the earliest, in May to look at the crisis in the local industry.
20 March 2009 [Read More]

AWU demands BHP shutdown in WA
The AWU has called for all BHP operations within WA to be closed, and an independent audit conducted throughout their entire operation, after another Pilbara worker death.
19 March 2009 [Read More]

Vic Forest Firefighters meet
Hundreds of Victorian Forest Firefighters are considering taking industrial action in support of their claim to be paid on the same basis as other Firefighters in the state, The Australian Workers Union said today.
19 March 2009 [Read More]

Workers not happy Sensis sacks 150
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) today strongly condemned the decision to cut approximately one hundred and fifty Jobs from Telstra’s Sensis division.
19 March 2009 [Read More]

Newcastle Uni cleaners fight
The LHMU, the cleaners' union, has today launched a community supported campaign to demand the University of Newcastle reverse its decision to cut funding to its cleaning contract by 25%.
18 March 2009 [Read More]

LHMU members dig deep
LHMU members donated over $11,000 in just two weeks in our online appeal for members who lost their houses in the Victorian bushfires.
18 March 2009 [Read More]

ILO thumbsdown to ABCC
Construction workers have called on the Rudd Government to comply with the latest recommendation from the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and suspend the operations of Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
18 March 2009 [Read More]

AWU wants asbestos program
The Australian Workers Union has called on the Tasmanian government to adopt an aggressive asbestos removal strategy for all workplaces - especially school classrooms.
18 March 2009 [Read More]

Rally against prison privatisation
Stop the Cell-Off Rally, April 2, Parliament House
17 March 2009 [Read More]

Bone pointed at good unionists
A major aluminum products company in Western Sydney is trying to silence the union voice in their workplace, by sacking the Australian Workers Union delegate, and about half its workforce .
17 March 2009 [Read More]

Because We Care aged care campaign
More aged care nursing staff with the right mix of nursing skills and increased Federal Government funding, are the main objectives of a new, national campaign to be launched by the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) today.
17 March 2009 [Read More]

Hotel lobby: WorkChoice diehards
LHMU, the hospitality workers’ union, says warnings of dire consequences to the hospitality industry from Australia’s award modernisation process are a desperate attempt by Workchoices “diehards” to prevent fair working conditions.
12 March 2009 [Read More]

Crunch time: Our Policy Future
Catalyst has been working closely with Australia’s leading progressive think tanks to present a major policy conference Crunch time: Australia’s Policy Future.
11 March 2009 [Read More]

Nurses say NO to private prisons
Lack of public scrutiny of privatised prisons would put nurses at risk. There are already enough problems in government prisons.
10 March 2009 [Read More]

USU conern at new Gvt energy push
The United Services Union has stepped up its opposition to the Government's plans to privatise the state's electricity retailers as the Government begins to test the waters for private investment in the sector.
07 March 2009 [Read More]

Unions rally for Bonds workers
Seven Unions will tomorrow meet at the Wentworth factory of Pacific Brands, where iconic brand Bonds as well as Berlei are made, to show support for the company's 1850 workers who are facing redundancy.
05 March 2009 [Read More]

Union badge collectors unite
A new social networking site for trade unionists worldwide has been lanched.
02 March 2009 [Read More]

Korean Worker Protest Pres visit
Action Alert – Protest at the South Korean President visit to Sydney, March 4, 5.30pm, Hilton Hotel, George Street, Sydney
02 March 2009 [Read More]

Transport unions OK Bonds-Gvt talks
Transport Unions congratulates government for dialogue between Textile Union and Pacific Brands
28 February 2009 [Read More]

TWU calls for Pacifc Brands talks
The Transport Workers Union has called on Pacific Brands to return over $17 million in taxpayerfunded grants from recent years after they devastated their Australian workforce and their families by deciding to cut almost 2000 jobs earlier this week
28 February 2009 [Read More]

Qld unions launch TV ad campaign
The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) will today launch a major TV ad campaign highlighting the seriousness of the global financial crisis and its impact on Queensland jobs.
28 February 2009 [Read More]

MUA bans Bonds gear shipment
Waterside workers will join truck drivers and rail workers in banning Bond's from shipping out millions of dollars in government subsidised machinery to China.
28 February 2009 [Read More]

Unions NSW and paid parental leave
Paid parental leave a much needed stimulus if introduced in 2009
24 February 2009 [Read More]

Beaconsfield verdict this week
The coroner investigating the death of Beaconsfield miner Larry Knight will deliver his findings on Thursday, almost three years after the disaster.
24 February 2009 [Read More]

AWU in joint asbestos study
The first stage of a detailed Cement Australia and AWU joint asbestos project has commenced in Tasmania.
24 February 2009 [Read More]

Loc Gvt future of childcare
The Australian Services Union has stepped up its campaign for child care to be transferred to local government in the wake of the collapse of ABC Learning Centres.
23 February 2009 [Read More]

Mine unions call for export debate
The Australian Workers' Union and the CFMEU are jointly calling for a revitalised national debate on the use of export licenses which were abolished in the 1990s.
19 February 2009 [Read More]

Manly Fast Ferry dispute settled
The weeklong dispute between Bass and Flinders and the Maritime Union of Australia was settled this morning, with both parties signing off on an agreement to raise both wages and safety for the Manly Fast Ferry.
18 February 2009 [Read More]

Telstra workers end Workchoices
Workers will protest against the behaviour of major employers such as Telstra at the Senate Inquiry into the Rudd Labor Government's Fair Work Bill today (Monday, 16 February).
16 February 2009 [Read More]

AWU cash support to Vic members
Up to 20 AWU members and their families have lost their homes and possessions during the Victorian Bushfires and are now receiving support from the AWU.
13 February 2009 [Read More]

AWU int'l support for fire victims
Unions from across the globe have sent financial support and messages of solidarity to AWU members in Victoria caught up in the horrendous bushfires which have made world-wide news.
11 February 2009 [Read More]

MUA fund supports bushfire victims
The Maritime Union of Australia has set up a special fund to help the communities devastated by the Victorian bushfires. National Secretary Paddy Crumlin is calling on ships crew and workplaces, members and families to donate.
09 February 2009 [Read More]

ACTU on bushfires
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has today expressed its sadness and condolences at the tragic loss of more than 100 lives in the bushfires that swept Victoria over the weekend.
09 February 2009 [Read More]

LHMU members lose homes in fires
At least nine LHMU members have lost their homes in the bushfires that swept across Victoria over the weekend.
09 February 2009 [Read More]

AWU members on Vic fire frontline
More than 600 Australian Workers Union members, frontline bushfire fighters, were out in force over the weekend trying to protect Victorian communities in the face of the worst bushfires in the history of that state.
09 February 2009 [Read More]

Telstra strike in Vic suspended
Telstra strike in Victoria suspended because of bushfire tragedy, but to go ahead in rest of nation.
09 February 2009 [Read More]

Qld MP backs US Steelworkers
The United Steelworkers (USW) said today that workers at EaglePicher Technologies, in Joplin, Missouri, are gaining important political allies overseas in their struggle to reverse huge concessions forced on employees by management at the defense plant.
06 February 2009 [Read More]

MUA branches back Israel boycott
Durban dock workers banned shipments of Chinese weapons to Zimbabwe last year, now they are set to ban Israeli shipments to protest the bloodshed in Gaza.
05 February 2009 [Read More]

ACTU backs AWU campaign
The ACTU Secretary, Jeff Lawrence, came out in strong support of the AWU call for special protection during the global crisis to support local steel and aluminium companies battling cheaper imports.
04 February 2009 [Read More]

Unions made Australia: Cardinal Pell
The leading voice of the Catholic community in Australia told the AWU national conference that unions have a significant role to play in defending and creating jobs in the current economic crisis.
04 February 2009 [Read More]

CFMEU attacks Turnbull
Construction workers accused Malcolm Turnbull of turning his back on thousands of construction workers who face job losses and uncertainty over the coming months.
03 February 2009 [Read More]

Cleaners vote on Agreement
Office cleaners around Australia are now voting on the Clean Start Collective Agreement.
03 February 2009 [Read More]

CPSU welcomes stimulus package
Australia's largest public sector union has today welcomed the Federal Government's $42 billion package aimed at stimulating the economy and supporting Australian jobs.
03 February 2009 [Read More]

Cardinal Pell speaks to AWU
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, His Eminence Cardinal George Pell will be the key note speaker at the AWU national conference tomorrow ( Wednesday February 4, 2009).
03 February 2009 [Read More]

AWU wants bi-partisan agreement
The Australian Workers' Union has offered to work with both the Rudd Government and the Turnbull Coalition to find ways to develop early bi-partisan agreement on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
01 February 2009 [Read More]

Win for Cochlear workers
The full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Committee has upheld the original decision to reject the termination of the existing agreement, thereby declining Cochlear Limited’s appeal.
28 January 2009 [Read More]

AWU national leadership re-elected
The national leadership team of the Australian Workers' Union - the National Secretary, Paul Howes; the National President, Bill Ludwig; and Assistant National Secretary, Ben Swan, have been re-elected, unopposed for a four year term.
28 January 2009 [Read More]

Jobs - key issue at AWU Conference
Australia's oldest union, and our biggest blue collar union, will hold its National Conference next week in Queensland - at the same time Parliament returns to Canberra.
28 January 2009 [Read More]

Coalition must back IR laws: ACTU
Liberals and Nationals must support Australian workers and back new industrial relations laws
26 January 2009 [Read More]

ACTU call for jobs stimulus package
Unions call for new economic stimulus package to target jobs that can begin straight away
20 January 2009 [Read More]

ACTU speech to Gaza rally Melbourne
ACTU International Officer Alison Tate: Speech to Gaza rally (Melbourne)
18 January 2009 [Read More]

Qantas agrees pay rise, job security
To secure the jobs of around 1400 workers, in the face of the global financial crisis, Qantas union members have reached an agreement with Qantas management about planning to keep work in-house .
16 January 2009 [Read More]

Bosses mustn't slash pay, conditions
Employers must not use the uncertain jobs market to pressure workers into accepting cuts to their pay and conditions, unions said today in response to new unemployment data.
15 January 2009 [Read More]

Big mine union jobs call
The Federal Government should urgently convene a tri-partite resources meeting to discuss the effect of the global economic downturn on jobs in the mining industry, Australia's biggest mining union said today.
15 January 2009 [Read More]

AWU National Conference
Australia's oldest union and our biggest blue-collar union will hold its national conference in the first week of February in the Surfers' Paradise Room at Conrad Jupiter's on the Gold Coast.
14 January 2009 [Read More]

Work laws don't deliver: ACTU
Labor’s proposed industrial relations legislation fails to fully deliver on the Rudd Government’s pre-election promise to scrap WorkChoices and restore workers’ rights, says the ACTU.
14 January 2009 [Read More]

Protect low-paid workers, ACTU
Minimum wages must be protected to prevent low-paid becoming US-style working poor.
12 January 2009 [Read More]

CEPU condemns Telstra extravagance
Telstra employees will be infuriated by today’s revelations that Telstra Directors are indulging in an extravagant, all-expenses paid weekend in Las Vegas, while at the same time refusing to negotiate a fair collective wage agreement for its workforce, according to their union, the CEPU.
09 January 2009 [Read More]

Fed Gvt slashes jobs
The Federal Government has slashed more than one hundred jobs across the Australia Taxation Office as its productivity cuts put the squeeze on the public service, the Community and Public Sector Union said today.
09 January 2009 [Read More]

Telstra bans this weekend
Telstra members are advised that bans are to be placed on the performance of overtime, call backs and recalls this weekend.
09 January 2009 [Read More]

Urgent info for AWU Alcoa workers
AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, has asked delegates to circulate a letter to all Alcoa AWU members about media reports suggesting jobs will be shed.
07 January 2009 [Read More]

ACTU on Gaza
Global action needed to effect immediate Gaza ceasefire and restart peace process, says ACTU
07 January 2009 [Read More]

MUA honours fallen comrades
MUA member Trevor Moore, 43, was killed tragically on board the Karratha Spirit on Christmas Eve.
07 January 2009 [Read More]

Stop Gaza fighting: APHEDA
ACTU and Unions NSW are calling for an immediate ceasefire, and for access to emergency and relief supplies.
07 January 2009 [Read More]

ACTU on slowing economy
Response to slowing economy must focus on jobs and skills, not attacks on rights at work, says ACTU
06 January 2009 [Read More]

Unions NSW on Gaza
Trade unions from Palestine and Israel are continuing to work co-operatively across the border between the two states, providing support for working people and demonstrating that a peace process is still possible.
06 January 2009 [Read More]

APHEDA statement on Gaza
The military onslaught against 1.5 Million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip must be stopped immediately.
05 January 2009 [Read More]

MUA condemns Gaza invasion
The Maritime Union of Australia today condemned the Israeli invasion of Gaza and called for the Australian Government to back the United Nations General Assembly calls for an immediate withdrawal and ceasefire.
05 January 2009 [Read More]

Communist legend dies
The Communist Party of Australia is saddened to announce the death of its General Secretary, Mr. Peter Symon. Peter served for 36 years as the General Secretary of the Socialist Party of Australia and then the renamed Communist Party of Australia (CPA) until his death at the age of 86.
22 December 2008 [Read More]

Garnaut attacks job security
Professor Garnaut fails to understand the very real pressures on working families in the current economic climate, AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, said today .
20 December 2008 [Read More]

Lighting candles for migrant rights
The common values of the trade union movement and the Jewish community were highlighted on International Migrant Workers Day in Sydney when the Australian Workers' Union and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies co-sponsored the first ever Union Chanukah celebration
19 December 2008 [Read More]

Global crisis:Migrant workers suffer
Unions have had a positive effect in preventing wage discrimination against migrant workers concentrated in the manufacturing sector, according to a report released on the eve of the UN-declared International Migrant Workers Day (December 18).
17 December 2008 [Read More]

AWU backs Gvt's green pathway
The Australian Workers' Union has welcomed the release of the White Paper on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme saying it provides certainty to the workers doing the job on the frontline of this important debate.
16 December 2008 [Read More]

Encouraging White Paper
The headline statements coming out of the White Paper released today are very encouraging, AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes said today.
15 December 2008 [Read More]

Business must create green jobs
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme announced today comes down on the side of caution by recognising the importance of existing industries, with the ACTU calling for the Government to keep open the possibility of higher greenhouse reduction target by 2020.
15 December 2008 [Read More]

Childcare workers in limbo
Stress and uncertainty continues for 16,000 ABC Learning workers as they wait to find out if they’ll get the $31m entitlements owed to them.
13 December 2008 [Read More]

New infrastructure spending welcome
Unions welcome today’s announcement of new Government spending on road, rail and education infrastructure and call on employers to do everything possible to protect jobs.
12 December 2008 [Read More]

Unions Tasmania congratulates AWU
Unions Tasmania Council Secretary, Simon Cocker today congratulated the Australian Workers Union and Cement Australia on the launch of its groundbreaking research project looking into the health of current and former employees at the Railton cement plant that once produced asbestos cement products.
12 December 2008 [Read More]

Telstra staff action next Tuesday
CPSU and CEPU members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking 'protected industrial action' to win a union collective agreement with Telstra. And they need your support.
11 December 2008 [Read More]

ACTU on Qantas merger
Yesterday the Australian Council of Trade Unions' (ACTU) executive passed a resolution of support and action in relation to the recent news that the Qantas Group is pursuing merger talks with British Airways.
11 December 2008 [Read More]

Bankrupt advice on emissions
Paul Howes, the AWU National Secretary, has written an Opinion Piece for a national daily newspaper arguing we should be more than a little jaundiced when banks join the chorus demanding big emissions cuts.
11 December 2008 [Read More]

Everyone has the Right to Education
The NSW Teachers Federation has written to the Premier today, the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, calling on him to introduce legislation into the NSW Parliament guaranteeing the provision and access to education and training courses for inmates in NSW prisons.
10 December 2008 [Read More]

ASU welcomes ABC childcare support
The Australian Services Union (ASU) has welcomed the commitment of the Federal Government to keep ABC Learning Centres open until March next year.
10 December 2008 [Read More]

Banks carve up ABC Learning
The LHMU – The childcare union says the big banks’ Receiver today announced the carve up of the ABC Learning business.
10 December 2008 [Read More]

Human Rights & construction workers
Construction workers will use the Rudd Government's public consultation on the recognition of human rights in Australia to call for the immediate repeal of the building and construction laws.
10 December 2008 [Read More]

AWU on Vic Transport Plan
AWU Victoria commented today on the announcement by the Mr Brumby's Government that additional "rolling stock" will be provided by way of further bus, train and tram services in the State of Victoria.
10 December 2008 [Read More]

Howes elected new ACTU Vice-Pres
For the first time in nearly a quarter of a century the Australian Workers' Union has been elected to a leadership position on the executive of the ACTU.
10 December 2008 [Read More]

Telstra workers vote to strike
Telstra workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over the company’s ongoing refusal to negotiate a collective agreement with its employees, the Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) announced today.
09 December 2008 [Read More]

ACTU says give AWAs the BOOT
The new independent umpire, Fair Work Australia, should be given the power to axe AWAs that fail to meet Labor’s new better off overall test (BOOT) say unions.
09 December 2008 [Read More]

The Rudd Govt: 1 year down, 2 to go
On November 24 2007, Australians voted for a Labor Federal government led by Queenslander Kevin Rudd MP.
09 December 2008 [Read More]

Support ZCTU: with a few dollars
The peak union federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), has recently asked Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA for support to keep the union structures going in the face of great poverty and repression.
06 December 2008 [Read More]

Give us your ABC Learning stories
Next week’s announcement by the Receivers of ABC Learning needs to give families and workers absolute certainty about jobs, entitlements and places. In the new year we need to similarly address what happens with all 1040 ABC Learning childcare centres.
06 December 2008 [Read More]

Working kids need more work reform
A public discussion paper released by the NSW Commission for Children and Young People highlights the concern that the current major reforms of workplace laws do not fully address the needs of hundreds of thousands of young Australians.
06 December 2008 [Read More]

Childcare anxiety and uncertainty
LHMU – The childcare union says today’s announcement by the Receivers of ABC Learning raises as many questions as it answers for families and workers at ABC childcare centres.
05 December 2008 [Read More]

ABC Learning short term solution
The Australian Services Union (ASU), the local government child care union, has welcomed ABC Learning's receivers' commitment to continue to keep child care centres open into next year.
05 December 2008 [Read More]

Racing stable workers get new voice
The AWU in Victoria has begun a campaign to improve the working conditions and safety of stable employees in the racing industry.
05 December 2008 [Read More]

Condemn ZCTU arrests
Reports state that 69 unionists have been detained, some violently, after demonstrating against limits on bank withdrawals that have left Zimbabweans unable to take out enough money to buy a day’s food.
05 December 2008 [Read More]

Support ZCTU: with a few dollars
The peak union federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), has recently asked Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA for support to keep the union structures going in the face of great poverty and repression.
05 December 2008 [Read More]

What a Rod!
Menzies refuses to sign Clean Start Agreement and tries to silence protesters
04 December 2008 [Read More]

Safe Work Bill changes needed
All politicians should accept the Senate amendments to the Safe Work Bill to strengthen workplace health and safety lawsand allow a swift passage for the legislation, says the ACTU.
04 December 2008 [Read More]

Defend childcare - defend jobs
ABC Learning Centre’s collapse shows child care shouldn't be for profit
04 December 2008 [Read More]

Qantas need to guarantee Aussie jobs
The Transport Workers Union has today called on Qantas management to announce an undertaking that the jobs and existing employment conditions of the 38,000 Australian working families in Qantas will be protected in any potential merger with British Airways.
03 December 2008 [Read More]

Video - Putting babies before banks
Watch a video of Sydneysiders putting babies before banks by signing the LHMU petition calling on the big banks to do the right thing by workers and the families who depend on ABC Learning centres across the country.
03 December 2008 [Read More]

Global rally against the ABCC
Tens of thousands of workers around the world will today march with a common purpose – to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
02 December 2008 [Read More]

Babies - too expensive?
An LHMU inquiry reveals a high proportion of babies (zero to two year olds) may be the reason why many ABC Learning centres are under review for closure. ABC Learning Receivers McGrathNicol are assessing 386 ABC to decide if they will remain open in 2009.
02 December 2008 [Read More]

Towards a Green New Deal
The Federal Government can drive a massive increase in green jobs by combining focused economic stimulus with climate policies like a strong 2020 carbon pollution reduction target, a broad coalition of social, union, environment and economic groups said today.
02 December 2008 [Read More]

Time to finish off ABCC
It is time to finish the job and give all workers fairer IR laws: abolish ABCC, union protests acros Australia today.
02 December 2008 [Read More]

Union protects toddlers childcare
Why full centres, with long waiting lists could be dumped by Receivers
01 December 2008 [Read More]

The Rudd Govt: 1 year down, 2 to go
On November 24 2007, Australians voted for a Labor Federal government led by Queenslander Kevin Rudd MP.
01 December 2008 [Read More]

Shed hands ripped off
Pressure is being put on low-paid workers in the shearing industry to work extra hours for no extra pay, at a time when workers' pockets are already suffering financial distress, the Australian Workers' Union said today.
01 December 2008 [Read More]

Childcare - babies before banks
The 2008 festive season isn’t looking very happy for ABC childcare workers waiting to see if they will be paid their hard-earned entitlements and if they’ll have jobs in the new year.
01 December 2008 [Read More]

ABC Learning Receivers must explain
LHMU – The childcare union says the Receivers of ABC childcare centres must explain why the future of almost 400 ABC Learning childcare centres has been put under a cloud.
30 November 2008 [Read More]

Solidarity with Indian hotel workers
On behalf of the more than 10 million workers in the food, agricultural, hotel and tourism sectors it represents, the IUF expresses its deep sorrow at the violence that took place in Mumbai, India, on November 26, 2008.
29 November 2008 [Read More]

London rally against ABCC
Londoners support the rights of Australian construction workers
29 November 2008 [Read More]

ASU wants local gvt childcare
Many communities across Australia face the prospect of the closure of child care centres across their municipalities in the new year.
28 November 2008 [Read More]

Tony Sheldon TWU resignation
This morning I notified the TWU Committee of Management of my intention to resign as the Union’s State Secretary in the New Year so I can focus on my duties as the Union’s National Secretary.
28 November 2008 [Read More]

The Rudd Govt: 1 year down, 2 to go
On November 24 2007, Australians voted for a Labor Federal government led by Queenslander Kevin Rudd MP.
28 November 2008 [Read More]

LHMU leads fight for ABC Childcare
LHMU members continue to campaign to protect childcare workers’ jobs and entitlements and to keep ABC centres open. On 26 November the receiver announced that 656 of the 1040 centres would continue to trade as normal after 31 December. The receiver also said that the future of almost 400 centres is still under review.
27 November 2008 [Read More]

ASU push for ABC Learning Centres
Australian Services Unions renews calls for to bring forward plans to transfer as many as possible ABC Learning Centres to local government.
27 November 2008 [Read More]

Win for Vic unfair dismissal rights
The Australian Workers Union win for a racing steward employed at Harness Racing Victoria is a major victory for the unfair dismissal rights of all Victorian public servants.
27 November 2008 [Read More]

Join the ABCC rallies Dec 2 2008
RALLIES - Join the rallies across Australia and the world on 2nd Dec 2008.Mass rallies will be held in cities and towns across Australia and the world in support of the Rights on Site campaign and to celebrate the DPP dropping the charges against Noel Washington.
27 November 2008 [Read More]

Stop hanging of Iranian unionist
Farzad Kamangar, a teacher, trade unionist and rights activist in Iran's Kordistan province, sentenced to death on what his attorney calls "absolutely zero evidence," could be hanged today, his supporters say. Sources report that he has been taken from his cell at Tehran's Evin prison in preparation for execution. Security officers at the prison are reported to have informed him that he is to be executed imminently, taunted him and called him a martyr.
27 November 2008 [Read More]

Fair Work Bill turns the tide
New industrial relations laws introduced into Federal Parliament will give working Australians the fundamental right to collectively bargain for better wages and conditions.
27 November 2008 [Read More]

Disastrous news: ABC childcare
LHMU – The childcare union says today’s announcement by the Receivers of ABC Learning centres is disastrous news for thousands of workers and tens of thousands of families.
26 November 2008 [Read More]

QCU fights for indigenous wages
The Queensland Council of Unions will continue to fight for wage justice for indigenous workers following the government’s announcement that it would use money already set aside for these workers to set up the Indigenous Queenslanders Fund.
26 November 2008 [Read More]

Libs still evasive on IR laws
Malcolm Turnbull has failed to come clean about where the Federal Opposition really stands on restoring key rights for workers that were taken away by WorkChoices.
26 November 2008 [Read More]

Teachers Fed wants childcare buyout
The NSW government has the perfect opportunity to continue to support and develop preschool education by purchasing childcare centre buildings in the wake of industry turmoil.
26 November 2008 [Read More]

ABCC laws in disarray
Australia’s Building and Construction laws are in disarray today as the DPP dropped charges against union official Noel Washington.
26 November 2008 [Read More]

ACTU on new work laws
New industrial relations laws introduced into Federal Parliament today will give working Australians the fundamental right to collectively bargain for better wages and conditions.
25 November 2008 [Read More]

New union TV ad
Will Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal Party support the restoration of Australian workers’ rights, or will he back a continuation of WorkChoices?
24 November 2008 [Read More]

Asbestos time bomb
Asbestos-related disease remains a ticking time bomb for Australians because there is no nationally consistent approach to asbestos removal and management in buildings and infrastructure and poor data collection across states and territories, unions said today.
21 November 2008 [Read More]

Gvt must tackle sealane piracy
The Maritime Union is calling on the Australian Government to act decisively in the face of the increasing number and severity of pirate attacks on international shipping.
21 November 2008 [Read More]

Telstra workers strike action vote
Telstra workers are about to start voting on whether to take urgent industrial action over the company’s ongoing refusal to negotiate a collective agreement with its employees, the Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) has announced.
21 November 2008 [Read More]

Childcare must return to Local Gvt
With the collapse of a second for profit child care provider, CFK Childcare Services, the Australian Services Union (ASU), has renewed its calls on the Federal Government to support a major return to local government for child care services.
21 November 2008 [Read More]

Union call centre workplace blitz
About 100 union members will take to the streets in Melbourne's CBD aided with calling cards and cup cakes and ring tones to launch a national call centre campaign today.
20 November 2008 [Read More]

AWU backs WA uranium mining
The Australian Workers’ Union has called on the leader of the West Australian Labor Party, Eric Ripper, to fall into line with Federal ALP policy on uranium mining.
20 November 2008 [Read More]

ABC Learning and childcare workers
ABC Learning is in receivership as they owe over $1 billion to the banks and other creditors.
19 November 2008 [Read More]

Paid parental leave video comp
Unions NSW is asking you to send the PM your message by video showing your support for the paid parental leave campaign.
17 November 2008 [Read More]

Grab the latest Rig Workers Voice
The latest issue of "Rig Workers Voice" now circulating talks about the changes to workplace laws - and how they will affect you on your oil and gas rig.
17 November 2008 [Read More]

ASU wants Fed help for ABC centres
The Federal Government and ABC Learning administrators, McGrathNicol, should give priority to local governments seeking to buy or operate ABC Learning centres, according to Australian Services Union National Secretary Paul Slape.
16 November 2008 [Read More]

Unions have arbitration win
Unions have welcomed confirmation from the Federal Government that a robust new system of workplace bargaining will be backed by an industrial umpire with strong powers to protect workers.
14 November 2008 [Read More]

CFMEU praises 457 Visa review
The CFMEU today congratulated Commissioner Deegan on her report to the Federal Government on reform of the 457 Visa scheme.
14 November 2008 [Read More]

Steel unions go for global strategy
Steel unions from around the world reached an historic agreement last week to develop a global response to climate change in the steel industry.
13 November 2008 [Read More]

Putting Telstra Execs on the spot
Unions and shareholders are joining forces to push for a better deal for Telstra staff and customers at the Telstra AGM in Melbourne on 21 November.
12 November 2008 [Read More]

Mini-Budget job cuts, privatisation
Yesterday the NSW state government released its mini-budget and with it announced that it was planning to cut 4,000 jobs from the public sector immediately.
12 November 2008 [Read More]

Call to back Oz sea lanes, shipping
Members of the Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Committee spoke in support of Australian shipping in Parliament yesterday as MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin heads for Canberra for top level discussions with the Minister for Transport Anthony Albanese on ways to implement the recommendations of the new report.
12 November 2008 [Read More]

IT blunder costing Telstra millions
Call centre workers at breaking point over failed IT system ,
12 November 2008 [Read More]

Public education for our future
Australia’s public schools are among the best in the world. They deliver high quality education to millions of students every day. Seventy per cent of the nation’s children attend a public school, yet they receive only a third of Federal Government funding.
11 November 2008 [Read More]

Good jobs whacked by global crisis
Good new secure jobs, which would have been a byproduct of Alcoa’s expansion of their Wagerup facility, have been dealt a big whack by the global financial crisis, the AWU said today.
11 November 2008 [Read More]

AWU on board with car plan
The Australian Workers' Union welcomes today's Prime Ministerial announcement of a New Car Plan as an investment in the skills and livelihoods of Australians.
11 November 2008 [Read More]

Doubt cast on ABC viability
This afternoon’s meeting with ABC Learning Receiver McGrathNicol was positive says the LHMU – The childcare union.
10 November 2008 [Read More]

Paid maternity leave more crucial
Paid maternity leave will be even more crucial for parents and their newborn babies as they face job insecurity and financial uncertainty as a result of the global financial crisis, says ACTU President Sharan Burrow.
08 November 2008 [Read More]

TWU welcomes safe rates report
A landmark joint Commonwealth/State Government report released today has recommended the establishment of a national scheme for setting mandatory safe rates for employees and owner-drivers in the heavy vehicle industry.
08 November 2008 [Read More]

Feds must lead on ABC Learning
After months of speculation today’s announcement that ABC Learning has been placed in receivership and an Administrator appointed heightens uncertainties surrounding the continued operation of the business, says Louise Tarrant, National Secretary of the LHMU – The childcare union.
06 November 2008 [Read More]

Bosses must provide safe workplaces
Unions back new proposals to increase the maximum fines for companies and directors who cause death or injury to workers, but believe the fines need to be even higher if they are to act as an effective deterrent and are concerned that bad employers will still find it easy to escape prosecution.
06 November 2008 [Read More]

ACTU warns Telstra investors
Senior Telstra management’s aggressive and uncompromising stance on the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) is putting at risk thousands of jobs for Telstra workers and could lead to a $11.9 billion drop in the company’s value, say unions.
06 November 2008 [Read More]

AWU backs Wave Hill kid's book
Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody's remarkable song, From Little Things Big Things Grow is based on the story of the famous Wave Hill Gurindji strike.
06 November 2008 [Read More]

ABC Learning time to end uncertainty
The LHMU – The childcare union – today called on Federal and State Governments and ABC Learning to clarify uncertainty surrounding the operation of ABC childcare centres.
06 November 2008 [Read More]

No wages for crew
Twenty-two Filipino workers on board a ship carrying coastal cargos to a WA port from Adelaide may not have been paid for three months
04 November 2008 [Read More]

AWU takes steel job fight global
The success of an Australian emissions trading scheme (ETS) will largely depend on how we best achieve a global response to climate change, Australian Workers' Union (AWU) National Secretary, Paul Howes, warned today.
03 November 2008 [Read More]

Telstra workers move to strike
Telstra workers will go to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission today (Monday, November 3) to seek approval to commence urgent industrial action across the country, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) announced.
03 November 2008 [Read More]

Telstra workers let down by umpire
Telstra’s workforce needs a strong industrial umpire with dispute settling powers to break the long-running stalemate over a new collective agreement, unions said today.
03 November 2008 [Read More]

Not modern to downsize awards
Nationwide, a large and diverse group of associations concerned with women's recognition and rights in the workplace have united to oppose the downsizing of women's awards.
31 October 2008 [Read More]

Green Gold Rush report
Australia could become a world leader in creating green industries generating up to a million green collar jobs by 2030 and multi-billion dollar export opportunities in green technology, according to a new report released today by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Australian Conservation Foundation.
30 October 2008 [Read More]

Sacked for exposing Telstra
A Telstra employee has been sacked for blowing the whistle on secret anti-worker plans to cut wages and conditions in Australia’s fourth largest company, the CEPU said today.
30 October 2008 [Read More]

Tougher safeguards needed
Tougher safeguards and new industrial relations laws with a strong independent umpire are needed for workers exposed to the global financial crisis say unions.
29 October 2008 [Read More]

Union safety expert denied access
Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd has this morning denied CFMEU National Health and Safety Officer, Martin Kingham access to the site of the catastrophic collapse of formwork and cement, which put at risk workers' lives on Monday.
29 October 2008 [Read More]

Qld deal shows good union bargain
More than 125,000 Queensland public sector workers stand to get pay rises of around $102 a week as a result of a new deal on wages and conditions negotiated by unions.
29 October 2008 [Read More]

FSU v St George Shareholder fight
Westpac and St George bank workers will continue to campaign against the St George takeover, despite the Treasurer’s decision to approve the controversial bank merger.
24 October 2008 [Read More]

Promoting good tax reform
Australia’s future tax system must promote economic and social development and create a fairer society, according to the newly-formed National Community Tax Forum.
23 October 2008 [Read More]

Boeing's bitter Hunter aftertaste
The big Boeing company, completely shutting down its operations in the Hunter at the end of November, has again shown it has little respect for the workforce, the Australian Workers’ Union said today.
23 October 2008 [Read More]

Pilbara strike escalates
Train drivers in the Pilbara are ramping up industrial action today following Rio Tinto’s continued refusal to meet with its workers.
22 October 2008 [Read More]

Centrelink worker poisoned
A worker in Centrelink’s Tweed Call Centre has been diagnosed with poisoning following the lifting of the kitchen floor on the premises
22 October 2008 [Read More]

Restoring Rights at Work
Catalyst Australia in partnership with the Australian Institute of Employment Rights is holding a series of public forums on Restoring Rights at Work: Lessons from the UK?
22 October 2008 [Read More]

Little Qld hospitals fight
While it has been the big hospitals getting the attention, the smaller hospitals have been playing their part in this year's QHealth collective bargaining campaign.
22 October 2008 [Read More]

Stop Brit far-rightist coming to Oz
Progressive think tank Catalyst Australia is working with community, faith, union and human rights organisations to prevent the visit to Australia of Nick Griffin in December 2008.
22 October 2008 [Read More]

Millionaires should pay tax share
Millionaires and the well-off must pay their fair share of tax, say unions.
21 October 2008 [Read More]

Cuts threaten climate change action
Bureau of Meteorology plans to slash jobs across regional weather stations could jeopardise future action needed to tackle climate change, Australia's largest public sector union warns.
21 October 2008 [Read More]

Qld OKs child labour strikebreakers
The Queensland Government is allowing the use of child labour to circumvent union work bans in an ongoing dispute over pay in the state health system.
20 October 2008 [Read More]

AWU & regional infrastructure spend
Australia's biggest blue-collar union has called on the Rudd Government to make infrastructure investment into regional Australia their priority.
19 October 2008 [Read More]

Sydney cleaners celebrate big win
Sydney’s office cleaners celebrate International Anti-Poverty Day as contractors sign on to reform the contract cleaning industry .
17 October 2008 [Read More]

Unions demand jobs, wages security
Job security and protecting workers’ income must not be ignored in the national strategy to weather global financial havoc, unions said today.
17 October 2008 [Read More]

Australia Post profit from wage cuts
Australia Post must ensure its workers get a “fair share” of its massive $600m pre-tax profit, CEPU National President Ed Husic said today.
15 October 2008 [Read More]

Strike action GeoScience Australia
The Federal Government must intervene in a public sector pay row that could undermine critical plans for carbon capture and storage, Australia’s largest public sector union said today.
15 October 2008 [Read More]

No pay for cheated Ballarat workers
More than 120 workers at Ballarat foundry John Valves were this morning denied their wages for last week's work and stood down without pay for the next three days.
15 October 2008 [Read More]

Pressure builds to abolish ABCC
The Victorian Labor Party Conference unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Federal Government to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) at the State conference on the weekend.
14 October 2008 [Read More]

Judge slams ABCC
The Queensland Plumbers Union says the Australian Building and Construction Commission a gross waste of tax payers and called for it to be scrapped after a case against the union was thrown out of court.
13 October 2008 [Read More]

ABCC discriminatory
The release of the discussion paper, from Honourable Murray Wilcox QC, on the future of the Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC) shatters the case made by big business and property developers for the retention of the ABCC, said Dave Noonan, National Secretary, CFMEU Construction & General Division.
13 October 2008 [Read More]

Fed judge slams ABCC
The anti-worker bias of the Australian Building and Construction Commission has again been exposed by the acting chief justice of the Federal Court who has found the ABCC turning a “blind eye” to dishonest employer behaviour.
10 October 2008 [Read More]

Childcare unionists on SBS TV
LHMU members Elizabeth Johnstone, Shirley Kelly and Susan Nolan were on SBS TV’s “Insight” program on 7 October.
09 October 2008 [Read More]

Mine tragedy exploitation
The Beaconsfield Mine musical, to premier at the Melbourne Fringe Festival this week, is a distasteful exploitation of a tragedy, Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) National Secretary, Paul Howes, said.
07 October 2008 [Read More]

Bank Union's new lending charter
The Finance Sector Union has joined with policy think-tank The Australia Institute and Care Financial Counselling service to launch the Finance Sector Union’s Charter of Responsible Lending today in Canberra.
04 October 2008 [Read More]

ITUC launches Youth Blog
In the lead-up to the World Day for Decent Work on 7 October, the ITUC today officially launches its Youth Community Blog (YCB).
03 October 2008 [Read More]

Fair Pay increase good start but ...
While US bankers may be wondering how they will pay for their yachts and island resorts cleaners across Australia are more focused on paying their rents.
02 October 2008 [Read More]

Fixing Sydney, Transport & Planning
The public transport woes of Sydney are bandied about by the media, politicians and public – but is a solution in sight?
02 October 2008 [Read More]

What women want
What women want – a new media script for female politicians…. An NSW Fabians event.
02 October 2008 [Read More]

ACTU backs AWU green vision
The Australian Workers’ Union has been a fantastic advocate for its members during the current Climate Change debate, journalists at the National Press Club were told by ACTU President, Sharan Burrow.
02 October 2008 [Read More]

New laws must deliver Rights at Work
Members of the AMWU national council traveled to Canberra and delivered a clear message to Labor to deliver all the rights workers voted for at the last election.
01 October 2008 [Read More]

Cochlear workers lobby Canberra
Cochlear workers’ battle for a union collective agreement has taken them to Canberra, where a delegation met with Labor MPs and pressed for the rights they were promised last election.
01 October 2008 [Read More]

Don't let companies avoid green regs
The Australian Workers’ Union believes the responsible thing to do for our environment is to establish a carbon reduction scheme which does not force offshore our emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries.
30 September 2008 [Read More]

Protecting the Qld dream
Joyanne Higginbottom worries that her children and her neighbour’s kids won’t be able to buy a house and have the Queensland lifestyle she and her generation enjoy.
30 September 2008 [Read More]

Help lift cleaners out of poverty
Cleaners have been raising their voices about the crisis in cleaning and contract cleaning firms around Australia committed to working with us to fix the crisis - now they need to put their money where their mouths are and sign the ground breaking Clean Start Agreement to fix this industry.
30 September 2008 [Read More]

Building Commissioner must resign
The CFMEU today called on Australian Building and Construction Commissioner, John Lloyd, to apologise and resign after eight charges against construction worker Brian Shearer were withdrawn by the Department of Public Prosecutions.
26 September 2008 [Read More]

Breakthru cleaners’ fair deal fight
The LHMU – The cleaners’ union – today (25 September) announced a breakthrough for office cleaners in the Clean Start campaign. Rose Cleaning Services, one of the ACT’s top five cleaning companies, has just signed the Clean Start Collective Agreement for fair wages and working conditions for cleaners.
25 September 2008 [Read More]

New ITUC Green Jobs report
The launching of a major report “Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low Carbon World” in New York today is a major step towards action to help create millions of new environmentally-friendly jobs around the world while underlining the need for just and fair transition for workers and their families affected by climate change and by government decisions to cut carbon emissions.
25 September 2008 [Read More]

Protest jail threat CFMEU official
Supporters of civil rights and construction workers will rally against the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) on Tuesday December 2 - the date and time that CFMEU official Noel Washington goes on trial for refusing to submit to an ABCC interrogation.
24 September 2008 [Read More]

New Opp Minister on Workchoices?
The appointment of Michael Keenan to the Shadow Employment and Workplace Relations ministry gives the Coalition the chance to rethink its support of WorkChoices and support a fairer IR system, the ACTU said today.
22 September 2008 [Read More]

AWU praises Gvt carbon plan
Prime Minister Rudd’s initiative to finance and develop carbon capture and storage technology has real potential to secure and support thousands of current jobs in regional Australia, the Australian Workers’ Union ( AWU) said today.
19 September 2008 [Read More]

CEPU talks to save 800 jobs
The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) today said it will meet with Telstra management on Monday 22 September 2008 in order to save up to 800 jobs.
18 September 2008 [Read More]

Urgent CEPU briefings on Telstra
The CEPU will be holding mass member briefings of Telstra members across Australia next Saturday, 20 September.
18 September 2008 [Read More]

Telstra must resume talks now!
Workers in Telstra’s Wholesale and Service Advantage (Call Centric) divisions have shown great courage in rejecting the company’s inadequate non-union job contract.
17 September 2008 [Read More]

Clear message to Telstra
Unions today urged Telstra management to respect the rights of its workers to be represented by unions after the company’s offer of a non-union job contract was rejected by employees.
17 September 2008 [Read More]

Union video forum !
Whether taking a DIY approach with camcorder and laptop, establishing an in-house broadcast studio or outsourcing to create slick ads and campaign materials, the video medium has much to offer trade unions.
16 September 2008 [Read More]

Centrelink staff threatened
Four out of five Centrelink employees say they have witnessed violent or aggressive behaviour at work according to a national survey by the CPSU.
15 September 2008 [Read More]

Poll: give Telstra employees choice!
According to opinion polling commissioned by the CEPU, almost 90 per cent of Australians believe the Federal Government must now intervene to ensure that Telstra workers are represented by their union, if they choose.
15 September 2008 [Read More]

Gvt nurse operator uses WorkChoices
Unions have called for the Federal Parliament to scrap what remains of Work Choices after revelations yet another major employer is still exploiting the Howard Government’s industrial relations laws to deny workers the right to union collective bargaining.
15 September 2008 [Read More]

What happened to the Left?
In years gone past the Left was a serious political force that held sway in once powerful trade unions, the Australian Labor Party and the broader community.
13 September 2008 [Read More]

Time for Telstra to end manouverings
After the company’s second legal defeat this week, Telstra management should now back down on its failed Work Choices strategy, sit down with unions and discuss a better pay offer to staff, say unions.
12 September 2008 [Read More]

Another day, another Court loss
With the heat on Telstra in the lead up to next week's votes on the Wholesale and Service Advantage non union agreements, management did what management does best.....
12 September 2008 [Read More]

R U a Kiwi in Oz, do you know one?
New Zealanders living in Australia are eligible to vote in the New Zealand election this spring.
10 September 2008 [Read More]

Qantas workers concerned
Off-shoring, contracting out and cost-cutting by QANTAS is impacting on maintenance standards according to a new poll of Qantas maintenance workers.
10 September 2008 [Read More]

Qld workers throw off AWA shackles
An AWU campaign to end individual agreements, at one of the biggest employers in regional Queensland , has had a resounding victory.
10 September 2008 [Read More]

AWU demands BHP shutdown in WA
The Australian Workers’ Union is calling for a complete shutdown of all BHP’s Iron Ore operations in Western Australia following the third death at a BHP site in about 6 weeks, and the 2nd in two weeks at Yandi.
05 September 2008 [Read More]

Cowboys on the North-West gas fields
A global energy industry corporation, using a slight of hand trick, has improved their enormous bottom line, by paying skilled guest workers, on the North-West Gas Shelf off Western Australia, between S4 and $10 an hour.
05 September 2008 [Read More]

What happened to the Left?
In years gone past the Left was a serious political force that held sway in once powerful trade unions, the Australian Labor Party and the broader community.
12 September 2008 [Read More]

Defending shearers work rights
Shearers across rural Australia need to be aware that the farmers’ lobby is pushing for significant changes to their working conditions, under the guise of modernising their Award.
04 September 2008 [Read More]

Fatigue is a killer
Watch the Victorian Ambos Fatigue is a Killer advertisement
03 September 2008 [Read More]

Hotels crisis hits Sheraton
Sydney hotel workers will demonstrate today outside the Sheraton on the Park Hotel to draw public attention to the crisis in Australia’s luxury hotel industry which is threatening Australia’s reputation as a tourist destination.
03 September 2008 [Read More]

Unacceptable bank delays
It is not good enough for some of the largest commercial banks to take almost a week before passing on Tuesday’s cut in official interest rates to their customers, unions say.
03 September 2008 [Read More]

Merchant Marine finally recognised
Hundreds of seafarers, young and old will join others with links to the sea to gather for the inaugural Merchant Navy day in Adelaide today.
03 September 2008 [Read More]

Integrated transport strategy: MUA
MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin calls on government to make good on its strategy for a nationally integrated transport plan encompassing shipping and ports.
03 September 2008 [Read More]

Total chaos as IBM blocks pay talks
Major airlines, banks, customs and other key services face meltdown this week as a result of IBM refusing to negotiate a collective agreement with employees.
01 September 2008 [Read More]

Protect PS whistleblowers
CPSU has called on the Rudd Government to introduce strong protections for public servants that act in the public interest by exposing corruption, maladministration and illegal activity.
30 August 2008 [Read More]

Hunter on climate change frontline
Big regional industrial centres, such as Newcastle and the Hunter, are smack-bang on the front-line of Australia’s current climate change debate and the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) wants to ensure that decisions about their future are not just made in our big metropolitan centres.
29 August 2008 [Read More]

Telstra workers want collective ag't
Telstra workers should be given the choice to have their unions negotiate a collective agreement rather than have the company’s managers push a non-negotiable job contract upon them.
28 August 2008 [Read More]

Mine Union backs Rights on Site
The Mining and Energy Union is giving its full support to a campaign launched yesterday to pressure the Rudd Government to restore democratic and civil rights to workers in the construction industry.
26 August 2008 [Read More]

‘Rights on Site’ campaign launched
Three construction workers, all of whom have been personally attacked by the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), will today launch the ‘Rights on Site’ campaign in Parliament House.
25 August 2008 [Read More]

Centenary of a great Oz union
More than 250 people came together in the NSW Parliament House last night to pay tribute to the Federated Ironworkers’ Association and to salute its iconic former leader Laurie Short – now 92 years old.
21 August 2008 [Read More]

Queensland’s LGA misled members:AWU
The leadership of the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) owes an apology to its members, and to the hard-working local government workforce, for consistently promoting the discredited WorkChoice laws to Queensland Councils, AWU Queensland Secretary, Bill Ludwig, said today.
21 August 2008 [Read More]

AWU win for local gvt workers
An Australian Workers’ Union win in the Federal Court in Brisbane today takes the WorkChoices yoke off the shoulders of local government workers, Bill Ludwig, AWU National President and Queensland Branch Secretary, said.
20 August 2008 [Read More]

Protest Iran union repression
Repression against labour activists in Iran is intensifying. In recent weeks, there have been numerous cases of arrests and jailings.
20 August 2008 [Read More]

AWU talks to Meet the Press
The Australian Workers’ Union will back the pilot program for guest workers in the agricultural sector to be announced today by the Federal Government, if the program provides a regulated and transparent process in the hiring of seasonal workers from overseas.
17 August 2008 [Read More]

A life in politics.........
Modern politicians are sometimes ridiculed by the public, obsessively scrutinised by the media, often have difficult relations with colleagues, and rarely have much quality time for their family. The question is whether public life is worth it?
16 August 2008 [Read More]

Don't privatise Vic TAFEs!
The Victorian Government is planning the most serious overhaul of our public TAFE system in recent history. These plans have serious consequences not just in the education sector, but every industry affected by vocational education.
16 August 2008 [Read More]

Banks put profits ahead of customers
Australia’s banks are selfishly putting their profits ahead of their customers who are under financial pressure from high interest rates.
13 August 2008 [Read More]

AWU says email your MP now!
This time last year, it was clear who was threatening our rights at work - the Howard Government.
13 August 2008 [Read More]

MUA says protect LNG from ETS
The Maritime Union of Australia had the following letter published in today's Australian.
13 August 2008 [Read More]

Time to deliver new workplace laws
Signs of a slowdown in the economy underline the need for the urgent scrapping of Work Choices and restoration of a strong safety net of rights and entitlements for Australian workers.
13 August 2008 [Read More]

Luxury hotel tries to gag workers
One of Australia’s largest hotel operators has threatened to discipline - and potentially dismiss - any staff member who talks to the media about their workplace. The Starwood-operated Gold Coast Sheraton Mirage’s media gag extends to discussions with lawyers, union representatives and even government officials. The LHMU the hotel workers' union believes even communications between workers and the Workplace Ombudsman could be affected.
12 August 2008 [Read More]

Union calls for TCF Industry Plan
The Australian textile clothing and footwear industry is ready to emerge from the dark decade of Howards neglect.
11 August 2008 [Read More]

Cuban trade unionist visits Sydney
Gilda Chacon Bravo will speak at MUA offices in Sydney about events in Cuba including dealing with the historic advances made by the Cuban people and the progressive changes taking place in Cuban society.
11 August 2008 [Read More]

ITF Australia rescues ship's crew
Three day stand-off wins the day for abused crew on board flag of convenience ship in Whyalla.
10 August 2008 [Read More]

Finishing Keating's super revolution
I got short shrift when I called for this year's promised income tax cuts to be paid into the nation's savings as government superannuation contribution, when I gave the first speech for 2008 at the National Press Club in January.
07 August 2008 [Read More]

Israel/Palestine union agreement
The Israeli national trade union centre Histadrut and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), both of which are affiliated to the ITUC, have reached a landmark agreement to protect the rights of Palestinian workers employed by Israeli employers, and to base future relations on negotiations, dialogue and joint initiatives to advance “fraternity and coexistence between the two peoples.
07 August 2008 [Read More]

MUA calls for gvt intervention
The proposed private equity takeover of Asciano, the company operating Patricks Stevedores, represents a failure of government policy that will devastate the Australian waterfront, the Maritime Union of Australia warned today.
06 August 2008 [Read More]

Stop Korea union arrests
Following a massive wave of protests and demonstrations, on 24 July the South Korean government issued arrest warrants for top leaders of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) including Lee Suk-haeng (President) and Lee Yong-shik (General Secretary). Ms. Jin Young-ok, First Vice-President of the KCTU has been arrested and detained.
05 August 2008 [Read More]

IOC inaction on labour rights
International mobilization in 35 countries calls for positive action to clean up Olympic supply chains
04 August 2008 [Read More]

AWU leader @ Newcastle IR society
Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary, to address annual Finnigan Rudd Memorial Dinner of the Industrial Relations Society of NSW, Newcastle Branch on Thursday August 28, 2008.
04 August 2008 [Read More]

Telstra must accept umpire’s ruling
Telstra Human Resources should abide by a ruling of the federal Department of Workplace Relations and immediately resume talks with unions about a new enterprise agreement.
04 August 2008 [Read More]

AWU leaders talk lower-carbon jobs
The AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, today begins a national tour of regional centres to build grassroots understanding of the implications of the move to lower-carbon standards for AWU members’ jobs, and for the living standards of Australian families outside the capital cities.
02 August 2008 [Read More]

ABCC report outdated discredited
The release today of the Australian Building and Construction Commissions 'Economic Analysis of Building and Construction Industry Productivity: 2008' report is fundamentally flawed, said Dave Noonan, National Secretary CFMEU Construction Division.
02 August 2008 [Read More]

Fight against draconian ABCC
Today, Victorian trade union delegates confirmed their deep anger at the continued existence of the undemocratic, anti-worker and anti-union Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC) and resolved to intensify the fight to have it abolished along with the underpinning legislation and code.
30 July 2008 [Read More]

Construction rights on site!
Construction workers should have the same rights as the rest of the workforce.
30 July 2008 [Read More]

Employers take advantage
Employers are taking advantage of restrictions on union entry to cut rights at work
29 July 2008 [Read More]

Solidarity with ZCTU
Trade union leaders Lovemore Matombo & Wellington Chibebe - ON TRIAL TOMORROW (30 July) in Harare!!!!!!!!!!
29 July 2008 [Read More]

AMWU members want action on climate
A new poll shows that workers in areas that rely on energy intensive industry overwhelmingly support action on climate change if there is government support for new industries.
26 July 2008 [Read More]

TWU welcomes safe rates pay system
The Transport Workers Union has today welcomed today’s announcement that the National Transport Commission (NTC) will investigate and report on options for implementing a national system of safe rates for employees and owner-drivers.
26 July 2008 [Read More]

Hear workers voice on climate change
Employees in industries at risk deserve protection with trading permits, the AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, has written in today's Melbourne Age
24 July 2008 [Read More]

Emissions permits for workers
The Australian Workers’ Union wants to put our members at front and centre of the emissions trading debate, the AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, said today.
23 July 2008 [Read More]

We too are ZCTU!
This is a photo mosaic of Lovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibebe, the President and General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
22 July 2008 [Read More]

Unions, business joint skills pact
Australia’s unions and the nation’s two largest employer bodies will hold an historic meeting today (Tuesday) to forge a shared approach to the skills and training needs of the national economy.
22 July 2008 [Read More]

Time to wake up on sexual harassment
The ACTU has backed the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s national plan to tackle gender inequality in the workplace including more education to eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination.
22 July 2008 [Read More]

AWU and Beaconsfield Inquiry
The Australian Workers’ Union is hopeful that the inquest into the death of miner Larry Knight will determine the cause of the collapse of the mine on Anzac Day in 2006.
22 July 2008 [Read More]

Gillard berates Telstra tactics
Telstra's decision to abandon negotiations with unions for a new enterprise agreement have received a cold reception in Canberra, with Deputy PM Julia Gillard rejecting the company's reasons for walking away from talks.
19 July 2008 [Read More]

Union anger over Qantas job cuts
The Australian Services Union has reacted strongly to Qantas' announcement that it plans to cut 1,500 jobs by December.
19 July 2008 [Read More]

Voters and workers' rights
A major national poll is showing that the public is losing patience with the demands of business lobby groups who want to keep major aspects of WorkChoices.
19 July 2008 [Read More]

ACTU on Qantas job cuts
The decision by Qantas to shed 1500 jobs in Australia and overseas is disappointing and unions will seek to work with the airline to minimise compulsory redundancies for the workforce.
18 July 2008 [Read More]

Telstra workers pay at risk
Telstra workers will be very disappointed with the decision taken by the company’s Human Resources managers to call off talks with unions.
17 July 2008 [Read More]

Global Day of Action July 17
Unionists will join a global day of protest on Thursday against private equity firms they say exploit workers.
16 July 2008 [Read More]

Sign a paid maternity leave petition
Australia and the United States are the only industrialised nations without a system of universal paid maternity leave.
15 July 2008 [Read More]

ABCC attacks CFMEU over OHS demand
Court proceedings have begun today against a Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union official, Robert Mates, who stood up for workers health and safety at a Heidelberg work site run by Anthony Goss.
14 July 2008 [Read More]

Saving Oz energy & resource jobs
Up to 15,000 Australian jobs could be under threat, Australia’s biggest energy and resource union, the AWU warned today.
14 July 2008 [Read More]

Power workers tell Old Macdonald off
Power workers walked off the job at the Munmorah and Vales Point power stations on the NSW central coast last week to protest against Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald, who was using the Munmorah site for a press conference
11 July 2008 [Read More]

Iran's Osanloo still jailed
A year to the day since his violent arrest, the ITUC, The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and Amnesty International are calling on the world not to forget jailed Iranian trade unionist Mansour Osanloo.
11 July 2008 [Read More]

Diving industry safety
Australia’s dive industry is booming but lacks critical unified safety standards and professional training, said the Australian Workers' Union in Cairns today.
10 July 2008 [Read More]

Climate change mustn't hit workers
Tackling climate change offers huge job creation opportunities for Australian manufacturing but only with the right government support, said the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union today.
08 July 2008 [Read More]

Working Australians & a green future
The Rudd Government’s commitment to meet their Climate Change timetable is admirable, Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary, said today.
07 July 2008 [Read More]

Politics of Climate Change in NSW
Climate change is now accepted as a real and imminent threat. The findings of the Garnaut Report and the introduction of emissions trading will require wide ranging changes in practice and attitude to the environment, including a vision that extends beyond the electoral cycle.
05 July 2008 [Read More]

AWU on Garnaut
The Garnaut Draft Report’s recognition of the importance for Australia, as an exporting nation, of the big resource, energy and metallurgical mining industries, is welcomed by the Australian Workers' Union - our biggest resource and energy union.
04 July 2008 [Read More]

Vic ambo online campaign
Ambo morale crisis could see 700 Victorian ambos walk away and sink govt recruitment plans
02 July 2008 [Read More]

Global energy misusing guest workers
The Australian Workers Union has called on the Federal Government to urgently stop a global energy industry corporation moving a barge from Australia to Indonesia, while investigations into their misuse of foreign labour are completed.
01 July 2008 [Read More]

New AWU Secretary for WA
Australia’s biggest resource and energy union will begin an aggressive new campaign to re-establish the Australian Workers’ Union back into Western Australia’s mining heartland with the election of a new WA Branch Secretary, Stephen Price.
30 June 2008 [Read More]

CFMEU on warpath over ABCC powers
Is a trade unionist compelled to give evidence on what was said at a meeting of workers? Answer: yes. At least, if the building industry's watchdog, the ABCC, requests attendance.
27 June 2008 [Read More]

Sydney Eric Lee workshop!
Enthusiastic Melbourne unionists have snapped up nearly every seat to hear Eric Lee from Labourstart give a one day workshops on union web campaigning. There are a lot more places available in Sydney where the bookings have been slower! So book now!
26 June 2008 [Read More]

Creating 3 million 'green jobs'
Australia can take strong action to tackle climate change and create millions of new job opportunities, according to a major report released today.
26 June 2008 [Read More]

USU petition to protect ahm services
The United Services Union (USU) today launched a petition to urge Australian Health Management fund (ahm) CEO, Mick McLeod, not to go ahead with the takeover by Medibank.
26 June 2008 [Read More]

Costa's power sell-off disaster
More than 1.5 million people will be ripped off if the State Government makes an early bid to sell Energy Australia, warned the United Services Union today.
26 June 2008 [Read More]

Unions and The Net: The Next Stage
Eric Lee from Labourstart will be holding one day workshops in Sydney on July 9th, and Melbourne on July 11th, which will deal with the current threats and opportunities for unions using the net for campaigning and networking. The workshops will also cover current issues such as the use of social networking sites, Second Life and Web 2.0.
25 June 2008 [Read More]

USA must pressure China to go green
Australian Workers’ Union National Secretary Paul Howes this week met with Republican and Democrat Senators to lobby them for a global emissions trading scheme which protect the jobs of resource industry and manufacturing workers in Australia and the USA.
25 June 2008 [Read More]

Politics of Climate Change in NSW
Climate change is now accepted as a real and imminent threat. The findings of the Garnaut Report and the introduction of emissions trading will require wide ranging changes in practice and attitude to the environment, including a vision that extends beyond the electoral cycle.
24 June 2008 [Read More]

Support the Big Picture in Zimbabwe
You can help support democracy and workers' rights in Zimbabwe - just by showing your face.
19 June 2008 [Read More]

Feds pressured on NGO worker paycut
As a result of the ASU campaign launched on 5 June 2008, Federal Ministers Jenny Macklin, Joe Ludwig and Wayne Swan have received hundreds of emails from workers affected by the changes that are being made to the way that income is calculated by Centrelink for the purpose of determining Family Assistance payments.
18 June 2008 [Read More]

Are you under debt stress?
When was the last time you were able to visit your local bank branch without being offered a credit card or a loan?
17 June 2008 [Read More]

AWU plan to trap CO2
Australia’s biggest energy and resources union – the Australian Workers Union - wants the Federal Government to provide R&D funds to research and study the potential of creating new climate change jobs in Australia based on trapping CO2 offshore.
16 June 2008 [Read More]

Child Labour Action Guide
On the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labour, the ITUC is launching a new “Mini Action Guide on Child Labour,” providing campaigning tools and direct support to trade unions to fight against child labour. According to the ILO, some 218 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are involved in child labour. Many of these children work long hours, often in dangerous conditions.
14 June 2008 [Read More]

New ILO Social Justice declaration
Following two successive years of debate, the ILO’s annual International Labour Conference adopted a major Declaration on “Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation.”
14 June 2008 [Read More]

Childcare fees increases unwarranted
The LHMU the Childcare Union says any childcare fee increases above inflation are unwarranted because of the Australian Government's unprecedented allocation in the May budget of more than $600 million for the childcare sector.
12 June 2008 [Read More]

Hungry Mile recognition extended
After a concerted campaign by Sydney's maritime workers and their union, the Hungry Mile is now set to be the official locality name around a stretch of Hickson Road in Sydney.
12 June 2008 [Read More]

Boeing give Sydney workers a voice!
Boeing is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jets and military aircraft, with approximately 1300 employees at its Australian subsidiary Hawker de Havilland.
11 June 2008 [Read More]

Play Fair torchbearers confront IOC
The Play Fair 2008 campaign handed over 12,000 names of people that carried the alternative Olympic Flame for labour rights.
11 June 2008 [Read More]

Bosses can afford maternity leave
The ACTU is calling on all businesses to help fund a national paid maternity leave scheme which would provide Australian women with at least 14 weeks paid leave.
11 June 2008 [Read More]

Time to energise the Bush - AWU
The biggest selling daily newspaper in Australia the, Melbourne Herald-Sun, has this morning run a major Opinion piece by the AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, arguing the union’s case why business and government must accept that it is Time to Energise the Bush.
10 June 2008 [Read More]

AWU Paternity leave submission
The Australian Workers Union has called for the inclusion of ‘Daddy Days’ or Paternity leave in a submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Maternity leave.
07 June 2008 [Read More]

Give Pacific workers union rights
The Australian Workers Union will back a Federal Government scheme to allow Pacific Islanders to come to Australia under a pilot scheme for guest workers in the agricultural sector.
06 June 2008 [Read More]

Calling all Kiwis
In October or November 2008 New Zealand will have a General Election. A Your Rights At Work NZ Campaign has been established in Australia to get eligible New Zealand voters based in Australia enrolled to vote.
27 May 2008 [Read More]

Union versus Asbestos
The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) has organised the largest asbestos survey and research program to ever be undertaken at a single work site in Australia.
21 May 2008 [Read More]

Budget and childcare: the real story
The increased childcare tax rebate will grab the headlines but the substance in the Budget on childcare relates to the funding of an integrated care and education program worth nearly $1 billion dollars, the LHMU the childcare union said tonight.
13 May 2008 [Read More]

What parents want from long day care
The first comprehensive national survey of what parents want from long day care (LDC) is released today. The survey found 90% of children use LDC between 7 and 11 hours per day, a length of time parents say they need to support their workforce participation.
13 May 2008 [Read More]

Racing stewards back at work
AWU harness racing stewards return to work today, satisfied with the outcome of an Industrial Relations conciliation hearing late yesterday.
10 April 2008 [Read More]

Vic Harness racing strike will cost
Harness racing in Victoria is expected to come to a standstill indefinitely from tomorrow (Wednesday) when the state’s 13 official stewards take lawful strike action, the AWU said today.
08 April 2008 [Read More]

Health and safety review welcome
Unions have welcomed today’s announcement by the federal Labor Government of a national review of workplace health and safety laws.
04 April 2008 [Read More]

Transport plan crucial for jobs
Victoria’s ability to provide sustainable, skilled jobs for working people would be threatened if the State Government did not act on recommendations to build two new tunnels under Melbourne, the Australian Workers’ Union said today.
04 April 2008 [Read More]

Sculpture remembers wharfie dispute
Melbourne wharfies mark ten years since iconic waterfront dispute
04 April 2008 [Read More]

Waterfront dispute 10th anniversary
Today Stevedores on the Fremantle docks will stop work for two hours and march through the streets to mark the tenth anniversary of the iconic Patrick waterfront dispute.
04 April 2008 [Read More]

$47mill Ansett super unclaimed
Almost seven years since the collapse of Ansett it appears that almost $47million worth of superannuation remains unclaimed by around 1,959 former Ansett employees whose super was transferred to AUSfund after Ansett Airlines collapsed in September 2001.
04 April 2008 [Read More]

Hunter region 2020 and unions
The Hunter Region 2020 conference this weekend will be told unions expect the Rudd Labor Government to support intitiatives which invest in new technology and promote smart manufacturing for our region.
04 April 2008 [Read More]

Banks push debt on working families
Banks are ‘pushing debt’ onto working families: unions call for cuts to lending targets.
02 April 2008 [Read More]

Harness racing in Vic to be crippled
Harness racing in Victoria will be severely disrupted from Friday when stewards take industrial action.
02 April 2008 [Read More]

Virgin needs high standards
Richard Branson should demonstrate his commitment to the growth of the Australian aviation industry by announcing the heavy maintenance of his aircraft, using Sydney as an international hub, will be done in this country.
01 April 2008 [Read More]

Unions welcome start of AWA bans
Unions welcome the ban on new Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) that takes effect today (12 midnight Friday 28 March) but plan to continue the campaign to scrap Work Choices in its entirety.
28 March 2008 [Read More]

Rural workers will cheer end of AWAs
Low-paid workers in the rural sector will be cheering today when Parliament finally ends the most hated symbol of the WorkChoices era – the individual contract Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA).
19 March 2008 [Read More]

Clyde Cameron - a great AWU man
A long-serving Federal Labor MP and AWU official, Clyde Cameron, has died aged 95. Mr Cameron played an important role in the history of the Australian Workers' Union.
17 March 2008 [Read More]

Union poll gives Super nod to Rudd
A national poll completed for the Australian Workers’ Union has shown that Australians would give Prime Minister Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan the green light to deliver their election tax cuts into their retirement savings – instead of in cash.
14 March 2008 [Read More]

Commonwealth unions to meet
With the 53-member Commonwealth this week celebrating “Commonwealth Week”, the ITUC is supporting the Commonwealth Trade Union Group (CTUG)* in its call for the organisation of mainly English-speaking countries to take action in support of workers’ rights, equal pay for women, and climate change.
13 March 2008 [Read More]

Hotel workers launch rescue package
Research by the LHMU, the hotel workers’ union, reveals a crisis in luxury hotels with devastating staff turnover levels, record injury rates, dangerous workloads, bullying by management and Australia’s biggest number of low paid workers.
11 March 2008 [Read More]

Unions condemn Mid East massacre
The ITUC has condemned the killing of at least eight religious students in Jerusalem, and the wounding of several others, by an assassin on 6 March. Militant group Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack.
11 March 2008 [Read More]

End rural worker wage freeze!
AWU members in the rural sector want an end to the wage freeze imposed on them by the Howard Government created Fair Pay Commission.
10 March 2008 [Read More]

Calling all Kiwi unionists
At the end of this year New Zealand will have a general election. New Zealand unions have asked the Australian union movement to support their campaign to get eligible New Zealand voters, based in Australia, enrolled to vote.
06 March 2008 [Read More]

Work laws must respect Oz values
Australia’s work laws should respect our democratic values, and ensure working people are allowed to have a voice in their workplace.
06 March 2008 [Read More]

Climate Change and insurance workers
Last week IAG and Suncorp - Australia’s two largest general insurance companies -blamed lower than expected annual profits on extreme weather events.
05 March 2008 [Read More]

Westpac employees say NO
Hundreds of FSU members have faxed their signatures to the FSU office to condemn Westpac’s plans for further offshoring.
05 March 2008 [Read More]

Oz unions back Iran campaign
As part of the ASU commitment to ITF International Railway Safety Day, we will be joining with International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and ACTU affiliates in supporting two critical issues this week. Trade unions internationally are calling for a global day of action on March 6 to highlight the situation of detained union leaders in Iran, to demand their release and to highlight human rights abuses against the people of Colombia. Australian unionists, including ASU members, will be participating in a series of events around the country.
05 March 2008 [Read More]

CFMEU calls for apprentice quotas
Building companies that win government construction contracts, including the low-cost housing program announced yesterday, should be required to meet a formal apprentice quota, the CFMEU said today.
05 March 2008 [Read More]

MUA: Safety breaches risk lives
Construction of the NSW Government's desalination plant is riddled with safety breaches that are putting lives at risk, striking divers warned today.
04 March 2008 [Read More]

ACTU Exec working families agenda
The Executive of the ACTU will meet in Melbourne today to consider a new campaign plan to improve the wages, working conditions and superannuation of working families.
04 March 2008 [Read More]

Gaza: Cycle of Violence Must End
With the Israeli army withdrawal from Gaza, the ITUC has called for the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
04 March 2008 [Read More]

CPSU welcomes new PS bargaining
The CPSU has welcomed the release of new workplace bargaining guidelines for the public sector.
03 March 2008 [Read More]

MUA divers protest
The construction of the Kurnell Desalination Plant faces delays because a contractor is flouting the NSW Government's guidelines on workers rights, the Maritime Union of Australia warned today.
03 March 2008 [Read More]

AWA meatworks investigation
It is unethical for employers to continue to push workers onto AWAs that cut their pay and conditions when a Government ban on the use of Work Choices AWAs is imminent say unions.
03 March 2008 [Read More]

Women earn 16% less than men
Women earn 16% less than men: International Women’s Day - International Pay Equity Report
03 March 2008 [Read More]

ACTU warns on rate rise
It is too soon for working families to be slugged with another interest rate rise and the Reserve Bank should wait and see before inflicting another increase on home buyers this week says the ACTU.
03 March 2008 [Read More]

Squattocracy @ Struggle: AWU history
SQUATTOCRACY & STRUGGLE, a 55 minute radio feature for the Hindsight history program, looked at some of the early years of the Australian Workers’ Union through the eyes of one family in the frontier town of Bourke.
02 March 2008 [Read More]

AWU lobbies for Tas hospital
The AWU has stepped up a campaign in support of the Rosebery Hospital after the Tasmanian branch won the backing of the 130,000 member union’s National Executive at their two-day meeting in Hobart.
29 February 2008 [Read More]

Qantas Valet parking protest
About two thirds of staff at Qantas Valet Parking at Tullamarine Airport are expected to work their last shifts today as a new AWA contractor takes over.
29 February 2008 [Read More]

Fairpay commissioner pockets $38,000
News that pay commissioner Professor Ian Harper pocketed a $38,000 pay rise last year while award wage workers got a measly $10 a week is proof that the former Howard Government’s Work Choices IR laws favoured big business and executives at the expense of ordinary workers say unions.
28 February 2008 [Read More]

Mansour Osanloo - Freedom Will Come
Watch this You Tube video which explains why unions are organising a global action day on 6 March 2008 to express our solidarity with Iranian workers once again.
27 February 2008 [Read More]

Qantas must back valet parking
Qantas should immediately step in and save 170 valet parking workers from major cuts to their wages and conditions say unions.
26 February 2008 [Read More]

Qantas Valet Parking forces AWAs
An AWA offer has been re-issued not once, not twice, but three times in just nine days by the new contractor due to take over Qantas' Valet Parking service this Saturday.
26 February 2008 [Read More]

March 6 will be day for Osanloo
Events will be held worldwide on 6 March 2008 as hundreds of thousands of trade unionists dedicate the day to demanding the release of imprisoned Iranian union leader Mansour Osanloo.
26 February 2008 [Read More]

Union Control of the ALP?
After almost 120 years is it time to cut the labour movement’s Gordian knot, that most intricate relationship between the fortunes of the political wing (the ALP) and the industrial wing (affiliated trade unions)?
25 February 2008 [Read More]

Stop the Sell-Off
Stop the Sell-Off, Keep Power in Our Hands.

Rally tomorrow outside NSW Parliament House.
25 February 2008 [Read More]

Centrelink cuts - bad for community
The CPSU has warned that Government moves to cut 2,000 jobs from Centrelink will lead to more queues and longer waiting times for clients.
24 February 2008 [Read More]

Who backs Iranian union camp'n?
A quick report for the many people asking about the progress of the LabourStart campaign to support Mahmoud Salehi and Mansour Osanloo – two jailed Iranian trade unions.
23 February 2008 [Read More]

Squattocracy and Struggle
SQUATTOCRACY & STRUGGLE, a 55 minute radio feature for the Hindsight history program, will look at some of the early years of the Australian Workers’ Union through the eyes of one family in the frontier town of Bourke.
22 February 2008 [Read More]

Unions blast bank foreclosures
Unions are calling on banks and home lenders to change the way they deal with families struggling to pay their mortgages, after reports of homeowners returning from work to find their locks had been changed.
22 February 2008 [Read More]

Support Qantas Valet Parking workers
About 170 workers across major airports in Australia currently need your support. In the dying days of AWAs in Australia, the new firm contracted to provide Qantas' Valet Parking wants to put all staff on a five year AWA.
21 February 2008 [Read More]

Super way out of tax cut dilemma
Protecting our members from higher interest rates and bigger mortgages - which eat away at wage packets - is a key issue for the AWU.
21 February 2008 [Read More]

Qantas workers sacked offered AWAs
Qantas parking workers sacked & then offered their jobs back on AWAs that pay $15,000 less.
16 February 2008 [Read More]

Release jailed Iranian workers
The ITUC and the ITF are organising a global action day on 6 March 2008 to express our solidarity with Iranian workers once again.
16 February 2008 [Read More]

Steel needs long term future vision
The Newcastle Herald ran this Opinion Piece today, from the AWU's Paul Howes, after OneSteel announced on Friday it was shutting down this September the former BHP bar mill at Mayfield in Newcastle.
16 February 2008 [Read More]

New employment standards
All Australians will be able to look forward to a more secure working future under the 10 new employment standards proposed by the Rudd Government, says ACTU President Sharan Burrow.
15 February 2008 [Read More]

AWU angered by OneSteel slash & burn
The AWU has blasted OneSteel for refusing to invest in new technologies and using their merger with Smorgons Steel as an excuse to shutdown plants across Australia.
15 February 2008 [Read More]

Vic elective surgery cancelled
Talks in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission fail to settle the long running pay and conditions dispute in Victorian public hospitals
15 February 2008 [Read More]

1st step to dismantle WorkChoices
The Labor Government’s proposed new workplace relations law, tabled in Parliament today, is an important and welcome first step towards reversing the damage done to working Australians by the Liberal and National Parties’ unfair ‘Work Choices’ laws, say unions.
13 February 2008 [Read More]

AWU miners back isolated community
AWU mine workers in Tasmania are lending their voices to a State campaign to re-establish the Rosebery Hospital.
13 February 2008 [Read More]

Campaign against privatisation
Public opposition has grown against the NSW Iemma Government plan to sell its electricity retail business and lease its power generating plants for 99 years to private companies.
13 February 2008 [Read More]

AWU wants Vic Gvt Inquiry
The Australian Workers’ Union is calling on Victorian Premier, John Brumby, to review the Government’s decision to award a $360 million contract for the overseas manufacture of 18 new trains.
11 February 2008 [Read More]

Unions on interest rates
Interest rate hike puts more working families under financial pressure:unions.
05 February 2008 [Read More]

Union Aid Abroad seeking volunteers
Union Aid Abroad is looking for volunteers for its Make Life Fair Everywhere campaign.
04 February 2008 [Read More]

Work families can't afford rate rise
Unions today warned that low and middle income working families cannot afford another rise in interest rates and called on the Reserve Bank to hold rates at current levels until the full impact of the global financial situation is clearer.
04 February 2008 [Read More]

Economic challenges Rudd Labor faces
The American economy is on the edge of an economic slowdown, recession is possible. Petrol prices are moving towards the threshold of US$100 dollars per barrel.
04 February 2008 [Read More]

AWU gets opinion-leader support
The AWU's superannuation plan launched on Wednesday at the National Press Club is winning support from influential opinion-makers.
01 February 2008 [Read More]

Darwin MUA crew statement
We the crew of the RV Triton would like to put on record our disappointment at Gardline for sacking us because we are members of a union.
31 January 2008 [Read More]

Make focus on OHS a priority
Urgent action is needed to prevent workplace deaths, the ACTU said today.
31 January 2008 [Read More]

ACTU: Restore workplace rights
Union leaders will meet in Canberra over the next three days at an ACTU conference to discuss how to scrap the Liberals’ Work Choices IR laws and restore the rights of workers.
30 January 2008 [Read More]

Regional jobs growth - the AWU plan
The Australian Workers’ Union wants the newly elected Rudd Government to build a strategy to help turn our country towns into the long-term engine-room of Australian growth, environmental protection, population redistribution – so that we can maintain the Australian dream.
31 January 2008 [Read More]

Winning back long service leave
The Australian Workers’ Union wants to work with the Rudd Government to restore the right to long service leave to our union’s members, Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary, will tell the National Press Club today.
30 January 2008 [Read More]

AWU backs Qld Gvt mine concern
A culture of silence at BHP’s Cannington mine must come to an end, the AWU National President and Queensland Secretary, Bill Ludwig, said today.
25 January 2008 [Read More]

Wage rip-off on North West Shelf
One of the biggest global energy industry corporations involved in the oil and gas rush on the North West Shelf is using the skills shortage to import cheap Asian labour – and they’re paying the workers less than what they were promised in their contracts.
22 January 2008 [Read More]

AWU denied Cannington access
Miners Union denied free access to workers at isolated BHP’s Cannington mine .
18 January 2008 [Read More]

AWU leader joins LA writers picket
The Australian Workers' Union National Secretary Paul Howes joins Writers Guild of America picket line in support of striking writers.
17 January 2008 [Read More]

Economic challenges Rudd Labor faces
The American economy is on the edge of an economic slowdown, recession is possible. Petrol prices are moving towards the threshold of US$100 dollars per barrel.
04 February 2008 [Read More]

WA mine pain: OHS voice restricted
The AWU, Australia's mining union, has called for the elimination of artificial restrictions on the right of our union's OHS people, and key officials, to represent mine workers facing workplace health crises.
13 January 2008 [Read More]

Bosses continue to force AWAs
Unions are calling on employers to stop forcing staff onto Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) ahead of new laws expected to be tabled next month in Federal Parliament that will ban AWAS and begin scrapping Work Choices.
09 January 2008 [Read More]

Banks must put people before profits
The ACTU is urging Australia’s major banks to put people before profits and refrain from increasing interest rates following recent decisions by ANZ and the National Australia Bank to put rates up.
07 January 2008 [Read More]

Bank staff pressured to sell debt
The Finance Sector Union today called for bank customers to direct their ire in the right direction in the wake of the move by the major banks to increase interest rates.
07 January 2008 [Read More]

12 hour shift cancer scare
The Australian Workers' Union has welcomed a United Nations report released at the end of last year warning that shift work can be an important factor in causing certain cancers.
07 January 2008 [Read More]

Xmas Day workers
More people working Xmas Day, New Years Day than ever before
25 December 2007 [Read More]

Question marks over miners' safety
A team of Australian Workers’ Union officials is heading to Fosterville Gold Mine near Bendigo to begin its safety investigation into an underground explosion at the mine which resulted in 12 workers requiring hospital attention.
20 December 2007 [Read More]

Stop the Sell Off
Unions NSW and power industry delegates launch campaign to 'Stop the Sell Off' of the state's electricity industry proposed by the NSW Government.
20 December 2007 [Read More]

Qantas must not hit 5000 Oz families
The AWU has been assured that Qantas’ announcement of a new joint venture with Malaysia Airlines will not have any impact on the more than 5000 Australian workers and their families who are involved in local Qantas engineering and maintenance operations.
19 December 2007 [Read More]

Newcastle workers hit hard @ Xmas
Well paid highly skilled Australian workers are about to lose their jobs in the Newcastle area because Federal and State governments are just not prepared to step up and support our manufacturing industries – the AWU said today.
19 December 2007 [Read More]

Beaconsfield mine safety
The AWU believes the new Beaconsfield mine management is much more co-operative than the previous management, the union said today as management announced the resumption of full production.
18 December 2007 [Read More]

MUA backs NZ dockers
Three ships turn away as a Maritime Union delegation joins a picket in Napier New Zealand.
17 December 2007 [Read More]

Face of the AWU on Facebook
The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) is set to become more visible on the web with a new Facebook application launched today. (Thursday December 13 2007).
13 December 2007 [Read More]

Hardy Wines leave sour taste
Hardy Wines was acting worse than the Grinch at Christmas in denying its Buronga winery workers fair compensation for losing their jobs next year, the Australian Workers’ Union said today.
11 December 2007 [Read More]

BHP trying to bribe Oz workers
BHP caught trying to bribe Australian workers onto AWAs
09 December 2007 [Read More]

Rogue bosses warned
Bosses who want to undermine the Rudd Labor government's plans to phase out AWAs will not be tolerated.
06 December 2007 [Read More]

PM Rudd salutes unions
Australia's newly elected Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, today praised the role and importance of the trade union movement in Australian society.
05 December 2007 [Read More]

Shorten farewells AWU members
Bill Shorten - one of the AWU's greatest leaders - has sent a message to our union's 130,000 members, thanking them for the extraordinary support and opportunities he has had over last 14 years in what he describes as as challenging and memorable chapter of his working life.
05 December 2007 [Read More]

NSW Fabian Society AGM
Please come along to the NSW Fabian Society AGM to be held at the South Steyne , Darling Harbour, Sydney on 12 December 2007 at 6.30pm.
04 December 2007 [Read More]

New national AWU leader
Australia's oldest and biggest blue-collar union has voted for generational change with Paul Howes, 26, elected as National Secretary after his predecessor, Bill Shorten, was elected on the weekend as part of the Rudd Labor Government.
27 November 2007 [Read More]

Union rejects ALP 'meat axe' call
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has called on the ALP to stop its offensive posturing over public service saving measures.
22 November 2007 [Read More]

Gillard on secret WorkChoice plans
Channel Seven FOI Editor, Michael McKinnon, has revealed that a two and a half year battle to get secret Work Choices documents released has resulted in a further cover-up by the Howard Government.
20 November 2007 [Read More]

Brit unions back Oz expat vote Labor
The British TUC has issued a call to Australians living in the UK to vote to restore workers' rights in the Australian elections which will be held this weekend.
20 November 2007 [Read More]

Gvt deregulation of mine safety
News of the safe and rapid rescue this morning of our miners in Ballarat is welcome indeed – Paul Howes of the Australian Workers Union (AWU) said.
19 November 2007 [Read More]

Farmers Fed uses WorkChoice laws
More than 100,000 workers in the Australian pastoral industry could have their wages cut because of complications caused by the WorkChoice laws, and the Howard Government’s Australian Fair Pay Commission
16 November 2007 [Read More]

New union TV ad for next 2 weeks
New union TV ad highlights importance of preventing Liberals going further on IR .
11 November 2007 [Read More]

Not speaking English - sacked!
Cochlear workers threatened with dismissal for raising concerns over an English-only workplace policy will feature in Mandarin language TV advertisements arguing for their right to be represented by a union.
09 November 2007 [Read More]

Fosters workers want union agreement
Fosters workers at Yatala in Queensland have again voted to take industrial action this week in their fight for a union collective agreement.
09 November 2007 [Read More]

Nationals rob rural workers hopes
The Deputy Prime Minister, Mark Vaile's attack on The Australian Workers' Union shows how much the Nationals have adopted a lock-step, follow-the-leader policy stance with the Liberals - rather than an independent stance in support of regional Australia.
09 November 2007 [Read More]

PS jobs as political football
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has called on politicians to stop using public service jobs as a ‘political football’.
07 November 2007 [Read More]

Barnsley workers plight
CFMEU Construction National Secretary Dave Noonan will today meet union members on the picket line at Barnsley Joinery Works, where 17 workers were sacked on Friday without immediate payment of their entitlements as per the award.
07 November 2007 [Read More]

LGBTI workers and Fed election
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has stated that they intend to follow up the "Same Sex: Same Entitlements" Inquiry whose report was launched in June this year.
02 November 2007 [Read More]

Childcare leaders unite
Childcare leaders unite to identify crisis in quality standards across Australia
01 November 2007 [Read More]

Howard confirms plan to cut Awards
John Howard has confirmed that his Government will push ahead with their plan to reduce coverage of the award safety net and would also consider changes to the fairness test if re-elected, according to a report in today’s Australian Financial Review.
01 November 2007 [Read More]

2007 WorkChoices Cup
Here is a cheeky Melbourne Cup office sweep for the big day in November.
31 October 2007 [Read More]

Asbestos victims plea to Abbott
Asbestos-disease sufferers and their families will present Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott with a plea to increase their life expectancies through a new drug subsidy at his Manly office today.
31 October 2007 [Read More]

TV's Ramsay St and WorkChoices
Natalie Saleeba, who plays lawyer Rosetta Cammeniti in the Australian soapie Neighbours, met on the set at Ramsay Street with Sharan Burrow the ACTU President this morning to highlight the affects of Workchoices on workers, including actors.
31 October 2007 [Read More]

33,000 more job losses
Workers in manufacturing, agriculture and construction will be campaigning around Australia today (Wednesday) to highlight the negative impact of Work Choices and the Howard Government’s approach to Australia’s manufacturing industry on families and local communities.
31 October 2007 [Read More]

DEWR fined $30,000
The Workplace Relations Department (DEWR) has today been fined $30,000 by the Federal Court for discriminating against union members in the public service.
30 October 2007 [Read More]

Help LG workers fighting WorkChoices
Workers at Holdfast Bay City Council in South Australia need your support. Despite the clear majority of staff voting against it, management at the Council are determined to pressure staff into signing a Work Choices agreement.
30 October 2007 [Read More]

Parlt function for cleaning industry
Representatives of the Australian property industry attended a Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners campaign reception hosted by the NSW Deputy Premier, Hon John Watkins, at NSW Parliament House on 17 October.
30 October 2007 [Read More]

Howard can't be trusted on IR
John Howard cannot be trusted on industrial relations and there is no doubt the Liberals will take Work Choices further after the election, the ACTU said today.
29 October 2007 [Read More]

MUA Election page up and running
Watch the latest MUA idol film featuring Peter Garrett one time rock star from Midnight Oil now Labor MP and shadow environment minister alongside an exclusive interview with David Gleeson, Screaming Jets at Sydney's RocknRally by Port Botany wharfie and MUA film-maker Cooper Silk.
29 October 2007 [Read More]

Builder admits scare campaign
The head of one of Australia's largest construction companies has exposed the fact that industry employer groups are running a massive scare election campaign by conceding the sky will not fall in under a Labor Government.
25 October 2007 [Read More]

Telstra drastic WorkChoice push
Telstra's drastic plan to rush through a non-union, WorkChoices agreement for its white collar workforce before the federal election has been greeted with deep scepticism from staff and unions.
24 October 2007 [Read More]

Big business asks for more
The ACTU has called on the Federal Government to respond to comments by billionaire retailer Gerry Harvey, who said employers should be able to bring in more workers from overseas and pay them only half the wages local workers receive.
24 October 2007 [Read More]

ALP child initiatives great: Union
"Today's announcement by the ALP addresses two of the most important indicators of quality child care: workforce training and staff-to-child ratios in Long Day Care", says Louise Tarrant, National Secretary of the LHMU. The LHMU represents Australia's children's services workers.
24 October 2007 [Read More]

Iran bus unionist blinded
Mansour Osanloo, the President of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed) who has been detained in the notorious Evin prison in Teheran since July this year has lost the sight of one eye after being denied the urgent medical treatment he needed.
23 October 2007 [Read More]

WorkChoices gatecrashes Cochlear AGM
Cochlear shareholders and board members will get an unexpected dose of the federal election campaign today as workers from the Cochlear manufacturing facility in Lane Cove bring their campaign for union representation to the AGM floor.
23 October 2007 [Read More]

Qantas staff TV campaign
Following the successful launch of the Australian Services Union YouTube advertisement, the Union has now taken the campaign against Qantas cost cutting and downgrading of services to television.
22 October 2007 [Read More]

Working people :No to Gvt's IR laws
ACTU launches new TV ad campaign warning that a re-elected Howard/Costello Government will go further with its IR law changes.
22 October 2007 [Read More]

Brewery workers on the hop over pay
Despite being offered $1000 to sign on and a substantial pay rise, workers at Foster’s Yatala in Queensland have once again rejected the company’s offer, holding out for a union collective agreement.
20 October 2007 [Read More]

Hockey reveals Howard union agenda
Federal Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey has confirmed the Howard Government’s intention to go further on industrial relations and get rid of trade unions altogether if re-elected.
19 October 2007 [Read More]

CFMEU wants Lib ads canned
"The claims in the latest Liberal party scare ad that housing construction costs will be higher under Labor are absolute rubbish," according to Dave Noonan, National Secretary of the CFMEU Construction Division.
18 October 2007 [Read More]

Liberal Party ads insulting: ACTU
A new negative Liberal Party political advertisement launched today by leader-in-waiting Peter Costello is insulting to working families says the ACTU.
18 October 2007 [Read More]

Hawke talks Labor success
Is there a winning formula for Kevin Rudd to follow as a Labor PM? Bob Hawke will talk this week about his years as PM at the next NSW Fabians Labor Leader series.
16 October 2007 [Read More]

Cleaning up our cleaning industry
Senior executives from some of Australia's biggest property owners will meet with cleaners, cleaning contractors and union officials in a breakthrough industry function in Sydney on Wednesday, 17 October.
16 October 2007 [Read More]

Ugly side of not-so-lucky country
Cleaners working in Australia's crisis ridden contract cleaning industry are stepping up their campaign for a fair deal during Anti-Poverty Week, being held from 14 to 20 October 2007.
16 October 2007 [Read More]

Tax cuts don't compensate WorkChoice
The tax cuts promised by John Howard & Peter Costello will not compensate working families for the Work Choices IR laws and the Govt’s plan to push a further 1.5 million workers onto AWAs if it is re-elected, the ACTU said today.
16 October 2007 [Read More]

Global seafarers' deal creates jobs
Australian seafarers will have greater opportunity to work in Australia's international trade thanks to a special levy placed on shipowners in a groundbreaking new global agreement.
16 October 2007 [Read More]

ACTU on Fed election
The Federal Election is an opportunity for working families to protect their rights at work and vote against the Liberals’ and Nationals’ unfair WorkChoices IR laws says the ACTU.
14 October 2007 [Read More]

We're off and running!
Election's called - we're off and running! Check out our animation now.
14 October 2007 [Read More]

Hawke talks Labor success
Is there a winning formula for Kevin Rudd to follow as a Labor PM? Bob Hawke will talk this week about his years as PM at the next NSW Fabians Labor Leader series.
14 October 2007 [Read More]

Cleaners and Anti-Poverty Week
Across Australia CBD cleaners are preparing for major nation-wide Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners rallies during Anti-Poverty Week.
13 October 2007 [Read More]

Exclusive golf course shafts workers
The Australian Workers’ Union will picket an exclusive Victorian golf course until its workers - terminated yesterday with no notice – are reinstated.
12 October 2007 [Read More]

WorkChoices worsens women’s pay gap
The pay gap between men and women has widened under the Howard Government, with women on AWA individual contracts falling furthest behind.
12 October 2007 [Read More]

Sign up for better OH&S
None of us ever expect to get injured at work and we hardly ever think about what sought of workers compensation scheme is there to look after us.
12 October 2007 [Read More]

Public servant must resign: CFMEU
A senior public servant should resign if he wants to accept an invitation to address the extremist HR Nichols Society, the CFMEU said today.
12 October 2007 [Read More]

Hockey not interested in truckies
Joe Hockey has refused to meet with McArthur Express Owner-drivers to explain why he has not allowed for them to be covered under the General Employees Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS).
12 October 2007 [Read More]

Toxic fumes endanger Hobart workers
100 production workers have been exposed to a carcinogenic mist at a Hobart zinc smelter as operators put company profits ahead of workers' health and safety, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union warned today.
11 October 2007 [Read More]

Lifeline cuts workers' choices
The Australian Workers' Union National President and Queensland Branch Secretary Bill Ludwig has voiced his dismay following the revelation that Lifeline Community Care Queensland has used the Federal Government's workplace laws to push through a non-union employee collective agreement.
11 October 2007 [Read More]

Qld brewery workers strike again
Employees from Foster’s Yatala Brewery in Queensland will strike again from 2-6pm TODAY.
10 October 2007 [Read More]

Hawke talks to Gallop
Come along and hear Bob Hawke talk with Geoff Gallop about his time as Prime Minister of Australia.
08 October 2007 [Read More]

Brewery workers begin rolling strike
Foster’s employees walked off the job at Yatala TODAY at 11am as their fight for a union collective agreement intensified.
05 October 2007 [Read More]

Brit students back Fosters workers
British student organisation raises concerns over Foster's Queensland Yatala with UK brewer.
04 October 2007 [Read More]

Qantas hit by ASU YouTube ad
In a first for enterprise bargaining campaigns, the Australian Services Union has today launched a 30 second online advertisement accusing Qantas of cost cutting and downgrading service standards in airports across the country.
03 October 2007 [Read More]

Life Under WorkChoices
A massive study of more than 8,000 workers’ experiences to be released today provides the most accurate picture to date of the impact of the Federal Government’s industrial relations laws.
02 October 2007 [Read More]

ACTU call for Burma action
ACTU calls on Australian Government to exert maximum pressure on Burma’s military regime.
01 October 2007 [Read More]

Global unions Burma protest
With protests in Burma, led by Buddhist monks and nuns, gathering momentum in recent days the military junta has now reacted with ferocious assaults on the demonstrators.
27 September 2007 [Read More]

Macarthur Express workers
Hundreds of families have been left looking for answers after the sudden collapse of trucking company McArthur Express.
27 September 2007 [Read More]

Spanish inquisition for TWU?
News this afternoon that Minister for Workplace Relations Joe Hockey has announced no fewer than 8 inquiries into the Transport Workers’ Union is McCarthyism gone mad.
26 September 2007 [Read More]

Foster's beer strike brewing
Foster’s employees vote in favour of strike action against their employer as they step up their fight to win a union collective agreement.
26 September 2007 [Read More]

Beazley on unions: farewell speech
Kim Beazley in his last speech to Parliament devoted a major section to acknowledging the role of the union movement in promoting democratic values.
22 September 2007 [Read More]

First ever on-line strike!
Members of the Italian workers union Rappresentenza Sindacale Unitaria (RSU) along with the Union Network International (UNI) will make history by staging the world’s first virtual strike in the online world of Second Life.
20 September 2007 [Read More]

25% rise in murders of unionists
In 2006, 144 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers' rights, while more than 800 suffered beatings or torture, according to a worldwide survey released today by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
19 September 2007 [Read More]

Clean Canberra Hospitals
Canberra Hospital cleaners will line up 41 buckets representing the number of cleaners that are needed to keep the hospital clean.
19 September 2007 [Read More]

Costello plans new AWA push
Peter Costello has confirmed that he would go further on industrial relations and that he fully supports a recently leaked secret Government plan to push 1.5 million more workers onto its unfair Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) individual contracts.
17 September 2007 [Read More]

Wattyl be our Rights at Work?

17 September 2007 [Read More]

Big pay loss under WorkChoice
A new government-funded report released today confirms that Australia's 1.7 million hospitality and retail workers have been hit the hardest by the introduction of the WorkChoices IR laws, with some workers losing up to a third of their incomes.
13 September 2007 [Read More]

Unions warn against Costello
John Howard’s announcement that he will stand down in favour of Peter Costello is a clear signal that the Liberal Party plans to take a hardline approach to industrial relations and will go even further on its unfair WorkChoices IR laws if it wins the next election says the ACTU.
13 September 2007 [Read More]

Worker sacked 'operational reasons'
The ACTU today blamed the Howard Government’s IR laws for making it easier to sack long-term workers, following revelations that two video library attendants were sacked after eight years service at Video City stores in Devonport and Burnie, Tasmania.
12 September 2007 [Read More]

Big Week for Scrutiny of Work Choice
One of the world’s leading economists, Professor Richard Freeman of Harvard University, will be speaking on the significance of Work Choices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney this week. He will be raising questions about the law’s likely impact and argue the changes are set to create more problems than they solve.
10 September 2007 [Read More]

DEWR bosses guilty of discrimination
Following a two year legal battle, the Federal Court has found the department responsible for administering the Workplace Relations Act has acted illegally by discriminating against union members in the public service.
06 September 2007 [Read More]

Workers vote flattens Fosters
Foster's brewery workers in Queensland have shown they overwhelmingly oppose the company’s plans to impose a non-union agreement.
06 September 2007 [Read More]

Barry Hemsworth: fighting 1 Year on
On Thursday September 6, crane driver Barry Hemsworth will clock up a full year maintaining his one man picket line outside Botany Cranes, the company that sacked him after a workplace safety dispute.
05 September 2007 [Read More]

Fosters Beer:e-mail protest campaign
On September 3 a large majority of the 280 workers employed by Foster's Yatala brewery near Brisbane,voted to reject the non-union agreement that the company is trying to impose using the Howard government's anti-labour "Work Choices" legislation.
04 September 2007 [Read More]

What do workers need from new laws?
The future for workplace laws, collective bargaining and unions: what do workers and unions need in future.
04 September 2007 [Read More]

City office cleaners protests
CBD office cleaners will today reveal their plan to fix the crisis in the cleaning industry.
04 September 2007 [Read More]

Australia - a client state of China?
Hon Kim Beazley MP, Alan Behm and Dr Chris Rahman will be speaking on this contentious issue on 5 September at Gleebooks at 6.00pm on Australia’s relations with the Peoples Republic of China.
04 September 2007 [Read More]

Fences not enough for Bush
Fences not enough for Bush to escape US Iraq Veteran’s voice at APEC.
03 September 2007 [Read More]

What APEC is not about!!!
Labour rights and human rights in the region - A quest for real Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation.
03 September 2007 [Read More]

60 years of Aust'n Union Songs
New 100-page booklet about the Australian folk revival and the Australian labour movement since the Second World Way.
02 September 2007 [Read More]

Cochlear YouTube msg to PM
Cochlear workers battling for the right to be represented by their union in wage negotiations are sending the Prime Minister a message via You Tube.
01 September 2007 [Read More]

Foster’s not giving sporting chance
Workers at Foster’s Yatala brewery in Queensland are poised to step up their campaign for a fair Union Collective Agreement.
31 August 2007 [Read More]

Anarchy in the gallery
'Let the walls speak!' political poster exhibition
31 August 2007 [Read More]

Unions on APEC & sex slavery
Senior trade union leaders from Asia Pacific countries will meet in Sydney today and tomorrow (Thurs 30 Aug - Fri 31 Aug) to discuss reports that the Asian region is fast becoming a hub for the trafficking of women for sexual slavery.
30 August 2007 [Read More]

Australia - a client state of China?
Despite the hype over Australia’s supposed China-focused economic destiny and our closer political and security engagement with Beijing, there remains a bipartisan credibility gap in Australian China policy.
29 August 2007 [Read More]

AWA mineworkers not so well paid
Mineworkers on collective agreements typically earn more than $100,00 per year, while those on AWAs typically earn far less than that.
29 August 2007 [Read More]

Labor policy steps to better rights
The ACTU said that the Labor Party's transitional industrial relations arrangements announced today were an important step towards restoring rights for working families in Australia.
28 August 2007 [Read More]

Walsh set to replace Daley, Vic LHMU
Thirty-six year-old Jess Walsh will soon replace Brian Daley as secretary of the LHMU Victoria branch. Daley is retiring after 13 years at the helm.
27 August 2007 [Read More]

Work rate scandal for cleaners
A national survey of CBD office cleaners reveals cleaners are having their hours cut but are still expected to complete the same amount of work – and sometimes expected to do extra work in the shorter hours.
26 August 2007 [Read More]

Boss group rejects Howard¹s AWAs
At last an employer-backed study into the Australian Construction Industry has rejected the Howard Government's individual contracts and concedes the benefits of trade unions in making the industry more productive, the CFMEU said today.
24 August 2007 [Read More]

Workers on AWAs miss redundancy pay
Workers on AWA individual contracts employed at the South Burnett Meatworks in Queensland have missed out on tens of thousands of dollars in redundancy pay after the plant closed while workers on a union collective agreement will get their full redundancy entitlement, with some employees getting up to $19,000.
24 August 2007 [Read More]

Foster's struggle goes global
Union members will rally outside Foster’s Australia’s marketing headquarters in Queensland today from 12 midday.
24 August 2007 [Read More]

Canberra cleaners workloads campaign
Cleaners at the Hospital will hold a short lunchtime meeting in the foyer of Canberra Hospital at 12.30pm today to protest their ongoing problems with excessive workloads which are having a serious effect on hospital cleaning standards.
22 August 2007 [Read More]

Lawrence takes over at ACTU
Jeff Lawrence takes over as ACTU Secretary & vows to intensify campaign against WorkChoices IR laws.
21 August 2007 [Read More]

Australia - a client state of China?
Despite the hype over Australia’s supposed China-focused economic destiny and our closer political and security engagement with Beijing, there remains a bipartisan credibility gap in Australian China policy.
20 August 2007 [Read More]

LHMU members grill Hockey Gillard
Four LHMU members from South Australia, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania travelled to Canberra this week to speak to Joe Hockey, the Minister for WorkChoices and his opposite number, Julia Gillard.
20 August 2007 [Read More]

You can have agreement -but no union
Australia's world famous beer company Fosters has decided that it wants to keep workers at its Yatala brewery in south-eastern Queensland on wages that are up to 35% less than wages at other breweries around the country.
16 August 2007 [Read More]

Historic changes at LHMU
The newly installed LHMU National Secretary, Louise Tarrant, yesterday called for the creation of a “ union of ambition” on her first day in the top job leading the 130,000 member LHMU.
15 August 2007 [Read More]

Cochlear tarnishes profit statement
Today’s profit announcement by Cochlear will be tarnished by its ongoing refusal to listen to its workers’ call for collective bargaining rights, the Australian Manufacturing’ Workers’ Union warns.
14 August 2007 [Read More]

Women worse off under WorkChoice
A national report released today demonstrates that WorkChoices isn’t working for low paid women and their families.
13 August 2007 [Read More]

Oz pub with no good (union) beer?
Fosters brewery workers in Brisbane, Queensland, yesterday continued their public show of solidarity because the internationally renowned brewer refuses to negotiate a union collective agreement.
10 August 2007 [Read More]

Union slams Trujillo pay rise
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has slammed the latest pay increase for Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo following the company's latest profit announcement.
09 August 2007 [Read More]

Trouble brewing at Fosters
Union members and supporters will rally outside Foster's Marketing headquarters in Fortitude Valley tomorrow from midday.
08 August 2007 [Read More]

WorkChoices ad scandal
The new WorkChoices advertising scandal shows Howard Govt can’t hide truth about IR laws.
07 August 2007 [Read More]

Overtime keeps Sydney ferries afloat
Sydney Ferry workers are being forced to work up to 70 hours per week to keep the service operating as management refuses to fill vacancies, the Maritime Union of Australia said today.
07 August 2007 [Read More]

Can you guess Qantas' profit?
The ASU, AMWU and TWU have today launched a "Guess the Qantas Group 2006-07 Profit" competition for financial members of each union working in the Qantas Group.
03 August 2007 [Read More]

Israel/Palestine unions co-operate
Israeli and Palestinian transport trade unions yesterday reached a ground breaking agreement to work together at a meeting in Cyprus organised by the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation).
02 August 2007 [Read More]

Business must hand back tax money
Business groups must now return taxpayers' money they used to promote 'WorkChoices'
02 August 2007 [Read More]

Rough Reds go online
A few rough reds" (RR1) featuring three old MUA comrades Brian Manning, Geoff Swayne and Ron Maxwell, has now gone into cyberspace.
02 August 2007 [Read More]

Union warns of ferry price hike
The Maritime Union of Australia will today warn that ticket prices would double if the NSW Government were to privatise Sydney Ferries.
02 August 2007 [Read More]

Low wage workers in Canberra
Low wage workers from United States explain it’s tough to be low paid in a rich country.
02 August 2007 [Read More]

CFMEU Comments on EconoTech Report
Recently the ABCC released an economic analysis of productivity in the building sector by controversial consultants Econotech.
01 August 2007 [Read More]

No AWA, no job IR laws sacks worker
Despite saturation advertising by the Federal Government claiming that workers cannot be sacked for refusing to sign an AWA individual contract, another case revealed today shows an employer has used the IR laws to sack a service station worker after 24 years service.
01 August 2007 [Read More]

New directions in labour law
Australia’s leading industrial lawyers and labour market researchers will be meeting in Sydney this Friday, 3rd August, at the Hilton Hotel to share their understandings of Australia’s rapidly changing system of labour law.
01 August 2007 [Read More]

Unionist denied right to own lawyer
The Full Court of the Federal Court has stayed an appeal by a Western Australian construction worker against an earlier decision, denying him the right to choose his own legal representation when summoned to appear before the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner.
31 July 2007 [Read More]

Aug 9 global Iran protests
The International Trade Union Confederation and the International Transport Workers Federation have called on trade unions around the world to back a day of action on 9 August in protest over the imprisonment of two trade union leaders in Iran.
31 July 2007 [Read More]

It's not a pretty picture
Imagine working for US$2.50 an hour, or working two jobs and only having one weeks' paid leave a year.
30 July 2007 [Read More]

Fosters wants to flatten beerworkers
Union members rallied outside Foster’s Australia's marketing office in Fortitude Valley Queensland last week -angered at management’s attempts to use the Howard Governments unfair and extreme industrial relations laws to impose a non-union agreement at the Yatala site.
30 July 2007 [Read More]

Why does NSW oppose Bill of Rights?
The ACT had the first Bill of Rights in Australia with Victoria following with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006. With Other States investigating a Bill of Rights - Why is the NSW government dragging the chain?
23 July 2007 [Read More]

Osanloo in 2nd week of captivity
As Iranian trade unionist Mansour Osanloo began his second week of captivity the ITF vowed to carry on its efforts to secure his release.
21 July 2007 [Read More]

Hamas attack on Palestinian union
Appeal to all international trade unions from the PGFTU (Palestine)
20 July 2007 [Read More]

Hearing Aid Silences Workers
Workers at the hearing device manufacturer, Cochlear, have been told to keep quiet or face reprimands after speaking out about their company's refusal to respect their wish for union representation.
20 July 2007 [Read More]

Brave Afghan feminist visits
Sohaila, a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, will be visiting Adelaide in August as part of a national tour to highlight the challenges facing women in her war-torn country.
20 July 2007 [Read More]

National Party seeks ASU support
John and Janette Howard may have never invited Peter Costello and his wife to dinner but the National Party is inviting the unions to eat with them!
19 July 2007 [Read More]

Jockeys miss start of racing season?
Tasmanian jockeys are being forced to turn their back on the track and boycott the start of the racing season in August unless the workers' compensation crisis is resolved.
18 July 2007 [Read More]

HSU rally tomorrow
As a consequence of the introduction of Health Support by the NSW Department of Health the Health Services Union has embarked on an industrial campaign to prevent job losses and jobs being relocated out of the Sydney basin.
18 July 2007 [Read More]

FOSTERing workplace discontent
Fosters Yatala Brewery is taking advantage of John Howard's extreme and unfair industrial laws to ignore the wishes of it’s workers – makers of iconic Australian beers such as VB and Fosters.
18 July 2007 [Read More]

Oz company bullies NZ cleaners
Eight hundred members of the Service and Food Workers Union in New Zealand have been locked out from their jobs as cleaners, kitchen staff and orderlies in ten major hospitals.
18 July 2007 [Read More]

Cochlear workers need email protests
Successful Australian hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear, continues to ignore the wishes of its workforce to be represented by their union, locking the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union out of wage negotiations.
18 July 2007 [Read More]

Hans Blix - WMD chair in Australia
The NSW Society of Labor Lawyers presents a unique opportunity to hear esteemed international jurist and statesman Dr Hans Blix Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission.
18 July 2007 [Read More]

Why does NSW oppose Bill of Rights?
The ACT had the first Bill of Rights in Australia with Victoria following with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006. With Other States investigating a Bill of Rights - Why is the NSW government dragging the chain?
17 July 2007 [Read More]

Vote for LHMU Childcare Union ads
Help the LHMU Childcare Union get their advertisement played on prime time television - register your vote in the advertising competition called "Oz in 30 seconds" run by the Getup! Action For Australia group.
17 July 2007 [Read More]

Study shows Howard Gvt AWAs hurt
A new Government report released today shows that typical Australians on AWA individual contracts earn 16% less than their counterparts on collective agreements.
16 July 2007 [Read More]

Beer Strike: Trouble Brewing
AMWU members at the Yatala brewery, south of Brisbane, are preparing to take strike action after management refused to sign a collective agreement with the AMWU.
15 July 2007 [Read More]

Childcare agreement praised
The LHMU Childcare Union has been praised for its work among ABC Learning's childcare professionals by one of Australia's leading commentators on women's issues - Anne Summers.
14 July 2007 [Read More]

Iran union leader abducted
The ITUC and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have today protested to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the brutal beating and abduction of bus workers’ trade union leader Mansour Osanloo in the evening of 10 July.
13 July 2007 [Read More]

New IR laws 'fairness test' biased
A statement issued today by the Howard Government's new Workplace Authority that it will only contact bosses and does not intend to contact employees if there is doubt over whether a job contract is fair has confirmed that the new IR laws 'Fairness Test' is biased against workers says the ACTU.
13 July 2007 [Read More]

Palestinian union leader threatened
Shaher Sae’d, General Secretary of the ITUC-affiliated Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, was today forcibly taken from a Nablus restaurant by masked gunmen, who threatened him and tried to force him to resign from his trade union position and to end his involvement in other Palestinian civil society organisations.
12 July 2007 [Read More]

No choice for warehouse workers
ACTU Secretary Greg Combet today met with warehouse workers from stationary supplier Esselte, who are on strike trying to get a union collective agreement, as new ACTU research shows strong support for laws enshrining the right of workers to collectively bargain.
12 July 2007 [Read More]

Grandparents concerns on TV ad
A new national union TV ad campaign launched today highlights the growing concern about the effects of the Howard Government's IR laws among older Australians and working parents.
12 July 2007 [Read More]

Union Aid Abroad Gala Sydney Dinner
Come to Union Aid Abroad's Annual Dinner. Wednesday 26 September at Paddington Town Hall.6.30pm for a 7.00 start.
11 July 2007 [Read More]

Fertiliser ships pose threat: MUA
Poor safety standards on a foreign flagged ship carrying ammonium nitrate have lead this morning to a potentially dangerous incident in a Newcastle port.
11 July 2007 [Read More]

Ind't Palestinian unions conf'ce

11 July 2007 [Read More]

Hotel union workers win $50k-plus
A hotel union campaign in Sydney has won more than $50,000 for a small group of low-paid workers who were angered by the lack of decency and respect shown by the new owners when their jobs disappeared from underneath them without any discussion with the workforce.
11 July 2007 [Read More]

Parental rights for working families
Unions are supporting calls for extra help for working families, including rights to more paid leave for parents and more affordable child care raised in the Work and Family Roundtable 2007 Benchmark report released this week.
10 July 2007 [Read More]

Ban on AWAs won't hurt mining
A new report by visiting Canadian economist Dr Jim Stanford debunks the myth that AWA individual contracts are somehow a necessary part of Australia's mining boom.
10 July 2007 [Read More]

Young people have no protections
The loss of protection from being sacked unfairly under the Howard Government’s IR laws is a key factor in the rising number of cases where young workers are abused.
09 July 2007 [Read More]

Church slams poor pay decision
The Catholic Church’s employment relations body today questioned the reasoning of this week’s Wages Decision by the Australian Fair Pay Commission.
07 July 2007 [Read More]

Palestine union & Israeli army
Acting on a report from its Palestinian affiliate the PGFTU, the ITUC has expressed its grave concerns over a break-in by members of the Israeli Defence Force at the PGFTU’s Ramallah offices early in the morning of 4 July.
07 July 2007 [Read More]

Living standard go backwards: ACTU
Yesterday’s pay rise for award workers, the lowest in ten years, is below the rate of inflation and means the living standards of many working Australians will go backwards says the ACTU.
06 July 2007 [Read More]

Aged care union wants Melb sanctions
An audit of aged care facility Broughton Hall, conducted as a result of the death of five elderly residents in April, has revealed the home failed to provide staff with access to key infectious outbreak management guidelines, resulting in delays in reporting and identifying a killer gastro outbreak.
05 July 2007 [Read More]

CFMEU's McDonald vindicated
A concrete panel has violently disintegrated and collapsed on the 16th floor of the notorious Q-Con construction site in St Georges Tce Perth, vindicating claims by CFMEU Assistant Secretary Joe McDonald that the site was 'a disaster waiting to happen'.
05 July 2007 [Read More]

Rural workers hit by wage decision
The Australian Workers' Union says the Australian Fair Pay Commission's decision to exempt farm businesses which qualify for an exceptional circumstances interest rate subsidy under the existing drought relief arrangements from immediately passing on today's Minimum Wage increase is disappointing and backward looking.
05 July 2007 [Read More]

Lowest pay rise for 10 years: ACTU
Today's pay rise for award workers is the lowest rise in minimum wages for ten years and shows the Fair Pay Commission has only listened to big employer groups and the Howard Government says the ACTU.
05 July 2007 [Read More]

Call For Youth Exploitation Inquiry
The South Coast Labour Council is calling on the NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca to urgently establish a public inquiry to investigate exploitative work practices for young workers in the Illawarra and South Coast regions following shocking revelations in the media regarding the treatment of young workers at the Chilis restaurant in Wollongong.
05 July 2007 [Read More]

AWU backs transport plan
The Australian Workers' Union has welcomed the Bracks' Government's $11.5 billion vision for Victoria’s road and rail future, and hopes the Federal Government will deliver the funding the State deserves to turn the vision into reality.
04 July 2007 [Read More]

Chilis Workers Speak Out
The scandal over the exploitation of young workers on AWAs continued today as another former worker from Chilis Restaurant in Wollongong told her story to media supporting her colleague, Alice McCarthy’s claims that staff were asked to pay back money to their boss if customers left without paying their bill.
04 July 2007 [Read More]

Young Workers Ripped Off
In a move reminiscent of US-style conditions where café and restaurant employees work only for tips, a media report today reveals how a restaurant chain is using AWA individual contracts to systematically rip off scores of young workers under the Federal Government’s IR laws.
04 July 2007 [Read More]

"You're gold if you're 15 years old"
Report on WorkChoices and young workers released today
03 July 2007 [Read More]

China labour activist in Syd
China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is already Australia’s second largest trading partner. But the lack of basic workplace and human rights mean many Chinese people are not sharing the benefits of economic growth.
03 July 2007 [Read More]

Most Australians hit by tax rip-off
New research that models all of the income tax changes since 1996 shows that average workers have been ripped off under the Howard Government while high income executives have benefited the most.
02 July 2007 [Read More]

Catholics: Work laws back bosses
THE Federal Government's Work Choices industrial relations laws are skewed in favour of bosses and should be changed, the Catholic Church said today.
30 June 2007 [Read More]

Close the Gap - dental crisis
The Health Services Union said today there needed to be a national solution to the dental care crisis with new figures showing almost 200,000 people on waiting lists for treatment in NSW alone.
29 June 2007 [Read More]

Canberra + maritime security
While the Howard Government is deregulating our shipping industry, even handing out potential explosives to foreign ships and crew on our coast, both China and Russia are protecting their shipping industry and coastlines
29 June 2007 [Read More]

IR laws deny redundancy entitlements
After years of loyal service at Pele Curtains in the suburb of Mitcham, Denise and eight of her workmates were given just 15 minutes notice that they were being sacked.
29 June 2007 [Read More]

NSW babies deserve better.....
Parents and children in NSW child care centres deserve the best and the State Government can deliver this immediately by improving the ratio of staff to babies by giving them better quality care, a coalition of major child care providers and peak child care organisations said today.
29 June 2007 [Read More]

Hospitality worker outs bad AWA s
A dedicated Tasmanian hospitality worker who was sacked for attempting to negotiate a fair wage has spoken out about the importance of the Your Rights at Work campaign for working Australians.
29 June 2007 [Read More]

Olympics & China's labour activists
In the run-up to the August 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the IHLO (International Hong Kong Liaison Office maintained by the international trade union movement and the independent trade unions of Hong Kong) has launched an on-line campaign to free imprisoned labour activists in China.
28 June 2007 [Read More]

Cochlear Not Listening
Workers at the Cochlear manufacturing facility in the Prime Minister’s electorate of Bennelong are being denied the right to choose to be represented by their union in wage negotiations.
28 June 2007 [Read More]

Indon labour standard violations
A new ITUC report on the respect for core labour standards in Indonesia was released today. The report shows that there remain serious violations of all core labour standards in the country. The report is being released today to coincide with Indonesia’s trade policy review at the WTO on 27 and 29 June.
27 June 2007 [Read More]

Big Brother's Tim Brunero and Apheda
Tim Brunero, the wild-haired runner up of last year’s Big Brother knows the value of television for capturing attention. Tim, a born activist, decided some ‘real’ reality TV was required as an antidote to Big Brother and has made a documentary Hands Across the Water in East Timor that was launched this Thursday June 21 at Unions NSW.
22 June 2007 [Read More]

Global unions and private equity
World trade union body issues global warning to pension funds on private equity and hedge funds.
22 June 2007 [Read More]

Union Picnic day at Kirribilli House
Andrew Ferguson from the NSW CFMEU has written to the Prime Minister to ask to use Kirribilli House for Union Picnic Day.
22 June 2007 [Read More]

CFMEU's McDonald statement
Press Statement by CFMEU assistant secretary Joe MacDonald
21 June 2007 [Read More]

Lawrence on CFMEU's McDonald
The CFMEU is a strong union and they need to be, Jeff Lawrence, ACTU Secretary-elect and LHMU National Secretary said tonight.
21 June 2007 [Read More]

AEC OKs union campaign
The ACTU has welcomed a decision by the Australian Electoral Commission that the union campaign against the Federal Government’s IR laws has not breached the electoral act.
21 June 2007 [Read More]

Labor Leader on Labor Leader
Have you wondered what it’s like to run a Government, to be the leader of a party as complex as the Australian Labor Party?
19 June 2007 [Read More]

CFMEU demands safety blitz
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is demanding a national safety blitz on the use of elevated work platforms after recent workplace incidents, including the death of a construction worker in Port Hedland.
19 June 2007 [Read More]

Lawrence says together we will win
Jeff Lawrence, the ACTU’s Secretary Elect, says that the union movement must continue the campaign to defend workers’ rights, whatever the result of the federal election.
18 June 2007 [Read More]

Olympic Labour Rights
The International Olympic Committees’ (IOC) response to Monday’s report exposing severe exploitation of Chinese workers making Olympics merchandise is seriously inadequate, according to the authors of the report, PlayFair 2008*.
16 June 2007 [Read More]

Hamas targets Gaza union - ITUC says
The ITUC deplores the descent into violence in Gaza, following days of conflict between Hamas and Fatah fighters, costing the lives of some 90 people, many of them civilians.
16 June 2007 [Read More]

Golden Toilet Brush Award
Cleaners across Australia will be handing out their annual Golden Toilet Brush Award this Friday, June 15, as part of global rallies for International Justice for Cleaners Day.
14 June 2007 [Read More]

Aust'ns want fair, inclusive nation
Australians want to live in a nation that they can proudly say is fair, inclusive and where working people have a say – I want to work with Australian working families to ensure we return to these values, Jeff Lawrence, the ACTU- Secretary elect said today.
14 June 2007 [Read More]

Next ACTU Secretary
Unions elect Jeff Lawrence to replace Greg Combet as ACTU Secretary
13 June 2007 [Read More]

Fed Gvt cheap ABC childcare politics
Childcare workers employed by Australia’s biggest childcare provider won massive pay increases in a landmark LHMU Childcare Union agreement. The terms of the agreement have been misrepresented by the Federal Government in recent days.
13 June 2007 [Read More]

Arrest warrants lraq union leaders
Arrest warrants still in force on Iraq oil union leaders - strike planned for Monday.
09 June 2007 [Read More]

IRC Determines Pay Increase
The NSW Industrial Relations Commission will hand down its decision on the minimum wage this morning in a determination that will affect more than 240,000 workers immediately and around 700,000 other NSW workers covered by state awards.
08 June 2007 [Read More]

Brit /US unions back Iraq oil strike
On behalf of the American and British trade union movements, the AFL-CIO and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), representing millions of workers in the United States and Great Britain, we are writing to express our grave concern regarding the threats to the safety and security of workers in the Southern Oil Pipeline Company in Basra.
07 June 2007 [Read More]

Soldiers face Iraqi oil strikers!
Due to the Iraqi military surrounding striking Basra oilpipeline workers, the 20-million-member ICEM today called on the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to conclude peaceful negotiations with the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) in order to resolve their legitimate trade union demands.
07 June 2007 [Read More]

Sydney hotel owner should show heart
More than 30 hotel workers are demanding the new owners of the big 443 guest room Rydges Hotel at World Square show a bit of respect to their workforce.
05 June 2007 [Read More]

PM Wrong on Fairness Test
In fact, the Government's latest IR changes are much weaker and provide less protection for workers than the previous 'no disadvantage test' which provided access to open hearings by the Industrial Relations Commission as an independent umpire.
04 June 2007 [Read More]

Women get raw deal from WorkChoices
What Women Want, the Report, shows that under the WorkChoices industrial relations system women are worse off in pay terms compared with men, since WorkChoices was introduced
04 June 2007 [Read More]

ABCC Called On To Detail Allegations
CFMEU Construction national secretary Dave Noonan today challenged Australian Building and Construction Commission commissioner John Lloyd to name the union official accused of threatening to kill one of his inspectors.
04 June 2007 [Read More]

Global contractors hit NZ low-paid
The lockout of two thousand New Zealand public hospital cleaners, orderlies and kitchen staff from midnight Monday 4th June has been branded as abusive and vicious by the Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota.
03 June 2007 [Read More]

CSL backs down in Port Kembla
The ACTU, MUA, ITF and CSL brokered an agreement late Friday to settle the Capo Noli dispute in Port Kembla. Central to the agreement is recognition by CSL to abide by the IBF agreement that all stevedoring work, including work on the ship's cranes is done by local wharfies.
03 June 2007 [Read More]

Nat'l young worker conference
The SA Unions U-Who Project is hosting a national Young Workers' conference.
02 June 2007 [Read More]

Labor Leader on Labor Leader
Have you wondered what it’s like to run a Government, to be the leader of a party as complex as the Australian Labor Party?
01 June 2007 [Read More]

Low pay safety net outrage
Cleaners, childcare workers and hospitality workers will be outraged by the Australian Fair Pay Commission plan to discount their pay rises because of tax cuts in the Federal Budget, the leader of one of Australia’s major unions organising low-paid workers said today.
01 June 2007 [Read More]

457 Visa inquiry and truck industry
While the TWU will take part in the working group looking into expanding the 457 visa program to the trucking industry, the union is firmly against the introduction of such a visa.
30 May 2007 [Read More]

Don't delay abolishing ABCC
The CFMEU today raised concerns with the ALP's decision to delay abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission until 2010.
31 May 2007 [Read More]

Miners protest at China consulate
Miners will travel from the Hunter Valley tomorrow morning (1 June) to protest outside the Chinese Consulate in Sydney against the sacking of 79 coal miners from the Chinese Government owned Austar Colliery.
31 May 2007 [Read More]

Working parents back childcare
Tasmanian parents gathered today during Tasmanian Early Childhood Professional Week to show their support for childcare professionals, calling on the Federal Government to make quality childcare a top priority in the upcoming Federal Election.
30 May 2007 [Read More]

Unions call for Right to Worship
Unions NSW tonight called on the Howard Government to establish a ‘right to worship’ protection in its so-called Fairness Test covering Australian Workplace Agreements.
25 May 2007 [Read More]

Hotel workers hit by AWAs
The Daily Telegraph’s exposure today of the harshness of Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) templates being promoted by motel employers will come as no surprise to many thousands of workers in the accommodation industry, and their families and dependants.
23 May 2007 [Read More]

ABCC Targetting Individual Workers
The CFMEU has called on all unions to boycott an industry roundtable organised by the Australian Building and Construction Commission because of a spate of prosecutions of individual workers.
22 May 2007 [Read More]

Support for Shipping Protection
The Maritime Union of Australia today called on the Howard Government to model Australian shipping laws on those enacted by US President George W Bush.
22 May 2007 [Read More]

Govt Offshores Nation's Future
Revelations that the Future Fund will contract its fund management offshore are an insult to the Australian financial services industry, the Finance Sector Unions said today.
22 May 2007 [Read More]

CEO Lapping It Up
While the Prime Minister continues to defend exorbitant executive salaries and urges big business to support his IR laws, new research by the ACTU shows the average worker would take 10 years to earn what Macquarie Bank CEO Alan Moss earns in a week.
22 May 2007 [Read More]

Qantas Safety At Risk from AWA Push
Forcing aircraft maintenance engineers to sign Australian Workplace Agreements would break the team culture with Qantas that has delivered a world’s best record on air safety, Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineers warned today.
18 May 2007 [Read More]

Work fairness no laughing matter
Working people and families know John Howard's unfair and extreme IR laws stink to high heaven.
18 May 2007 [Read More]

Soapie takes a swipe at WorkChoice
John Howard's harsh WorkChoices laws took another battering this week - not from the Kevin Rudd or the union movement , but from popular Channel 9 drama series McLeod's Daughters.
18 May 2007 [Read More]

Confusion Reigns on IR Hotline
Despite widespread confusion over the Federal Government's latest IR changes that were introduced ten days ago without supporting legislation, call-takers at the official government IR hotline have been issued a directive to never say 'I don't know' when callers are unhappy with the lack of information about the new 'Fairness Test.
17 May 2007 [Read More]

Egyptian unionist thanks Oz
Global e-mail protests, including support from Australia, has helped an Egyptian textile worker who was being victimized for his workplace union leadership.
16 May 2007 [Read More]

Miners Should Respect Basic Rights
ACTU Secretary Greg Combet has called on Australia's mining companies to clearly state whether they will respect two fundamental and internationally recognised democratic rights - the freedom to join and be represented by a union, and the right of workers to bargain collectively with their employer if that is what a majority of employees in a workplace want.
15 May 2007 [Read More]

Solidarity: Egyptian textile worker
As industrial action spreads in Egypt, labor activists who played a leading role in strikes at their factories are being victimized.
15 May 2007 [Read More]

Building Politics Before Industry
Building workers today accused the Master Builders Association of playing politics with the industry by pressuring the ALP to continue with the discredited Australian Building and Construction Commission.
15 May 2007 [Read More]

Interview Palestinian union leader
Being a trade unionist is a very dangerous business in Palestine.
11 May 2007 [Read More]

Trade Schools Will Clean Up Mess
The CFMEU today welcomed the ALP’s commitment to promote trades education through high schools as the first step to addressing the Howard Government’s neglect of apprenticeships.
11 May 2007 [Read More]

Energy Push Breaches Promise
NSW Government plans to privatise electricity retailers would see NSW consumers having power problems dealt with by off-shore call centres within a few years, the union representing workers whose jobs are at risk by the plans warned today.
11 May 2007 [Read More]

Labor Plan for Finance Industry
The Finance Sector Union today welcomed Kevin Rudd’s announcement to encourage the development of Australia’s finance sector with a first step plan to transform Australia into a hub for funds management.
11 May 2007 [Read More]

Labor Leader on Labor Leader
Have you wondered what it’s like to run a Government, to be the leader of a party as complex as the Australian Labor Party?
11 May 2007 [Read More]

Budget lacks childcare leadership
The Federal Government has shown they have no real strategy to make childcare affordable and viable for Australian parents.
09 May 2007 [Read More]

New Legislation - WorkChoice song
Cathie O'Brien and Allan Caswell met up one evening to write a song about the WorkChoices laws passed by John Howard and its repercussions on working families.
07 May 2007 [Read More]

Qantas Board, Managers Should Resign
Senior Qantas managers and board members should resign over their support for the failed private equity takeover of the airline, Qantas maintenance engineers said today.
07 May 2007 [Read More]

Clover Moore and AWAs
Sydney monorail workers and their union have written to Clover Moore, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, hoping to get her support in a campaign to stop the introduction of individual contract AWAs.
04 May 2007 [Read More]

Lawrence to nominate for ACTU
LHMU National Secretary Jeff Lawrence will nominate for the position of ACTU Secretary when it becomes available.
04 May 2007 [Read More]

Hotel slashes workers pay
The Mean Fiddler's management slash public holiday penalty rates, robbing workers of up to $20 an hour
02 May 2007 [Read More]

Get real on AWAs
It seems the mining industry is now championing John Howard’s unfair Workchoices on the pretext of needing flexibility to continue their booming profits” says Sue Lines Assistant Secretary of the WA LHMU, the largest union in Western Australia.
02 May 2007 [Read More]

Historic ‘Trades Hall’ Reopens
This Tuesday May 1, Her Excellency, Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of New South Wales will officially open the refurbished Sydney Trades Hall at 11:00am, an historic Sydney landmark that has been 136 years in the making.
30 April 2007 [Read More]

Church praises CleanStart campaign
The Chair of the Catholic Social Justice Council has singled out the work of the Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners campaign in standing up to the worst excesses of the Howard Government’s WorkChoices laws.
30 April 2007 [Read More]

Anzac tradition continues
Anzac tradition continues as Aussie cleaners go into bat for a fair deal for Kiwi cleaners
26 April 2007 [Read More]

New ideas afloat at the South Steyne
More than 250 people are expected at the NSW Fabian ALP Fringe event “Who Owns the Soul of Australia” seminar on April 27 featuring Maxine McKew.
25 April 2007 [Read More]

Catholics call for low wage rise
The Catholic Church’s industrial relations advisory body has called for the Australian Fair Pay Commission to increase the federal minimum wage to assist low paid workers and their families.
23 April 2007 [Read More]

Support HK Disneyland workers
The Hong Kong Disneyland Cast Members' Union is asking for the support of unions from across the globe in championing an independent and transparent grievance procedure in Hong Kong Disneyland, which should be in conformity with the international labour standards.
22 April 2007 [Read More]

Catholics blast WorkChoices
The Howard Government’s radical work laws contravene the Roman Catholic church’s teachings, according to an Australian Catholic Social Justice Council discussion paper that examines the nation’s industrial relations laws.
20 April 2007 [Read More]

Howard ducks child responsibility
The Childcare Union is flabbergasted by the lack of understanding of the crisis that John Howard's Federal Family and Community Services Minister, Mal Brough, has shown in dealing with the latest statistics.
20 April 2007 [Read More]

Monorail workers and AWAs
A billion dollar French mult-national - Veolia - wants to squeeze an extra $250,000 profit out of low-paid Sydney monorail workers by pushing them onto individual employment contracts.
20 April 2007 [Read More]

Vic school cleaners and WorkChoices
The Bracks Government's is effectively backing the Clean Start campaign by the way it uses its purchasing power to regulate labour standards of contract cleaning contractors.
19 April 2007 [Read More]

US Social Forum in June
U.S. social movements to forge new era in politics under banner “Another World is Possible ~ Another U.S. is Necessary”
19 April 2007 [Read More]

Violent attacks on Iranian union
The ITUC has issued a strong condemnation of the Iranian authorities for their intensified attacks on independent trade unions in the country, with the arrests of hundreds of leaders and members of teachers’ organisations and further persecution of bakery workers’ leader Mahmoud Salehi from the city of Saqez in Iran Kurdistan.
19 April 2007 [Read More]

Flexibility All One Way
The Howard Government's argument that workers are getting more flexible hours and family friendly working conditions has been shot down by secret Government data released today showing that three quarters of the Government's AWA individual contracts do not provide family friendly work provisions.
18 April 2007 [Read More]

Vic Gvt must end decade of neglect
Childcare professionals from across Victoria will meet with State Government MPs today at Parliament House and call on them to end a decade of regulatory neglect.
18 April 2007 [Read More]

PM Attacks Unions - Again
Instead of attacking unions the Federal Government should admit that its IR laws are hurting working families the ACTU said today
16 April 2007 [Read More]

Voting Rules Hurt Young Workers
Strict new Federal Government voting rules that take effect today (Monday 16 April) will make it much harder for young people who have suffered as a result of the new IR laws to vote in the upcoming Federal election says the ACTU.
16 April 2007 [Read More]

Cambodia trial outrage
The ITUC has described a ruling by the Cambodian Appeals court confirming 20-year prison sentences for two men unjustly accused of killing trade union leader Chea Vichea in 2004 as a "double travesty of justice".
14 April 2007 [Read More]

Music Industry Joins IR Campaign
Some of Australian music’s biggest names are backing the Your Rights at Work campaign with a major concert at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday April 22.
12 April 2007 [Read More]

Councils Voting With Their Feet
More than half of NSW local councils have signed agreements protecting key workplace rights under powers of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.
12 April 2007 [Read More]

Childcare reform crucial
The Victorian LHMU Childcare Union has strongly supported Victorian Premier Steve Bracks’ COAG blueprint for early childhood, arguing better, more accessible childcare delivers crucial benefits to children and the broader economy.
10 April 2007 [Read More]

Palestinian union leader attacked
PGFTU condemns the attack targeted the Trade Union Movement Leader "Mr. Rasem Al- Bayari".
09 April 2007 [Read More]

China trade unions attack US giants
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), China's state-run trade union, has called on American fast-food giants to make up for the underpaid wages of part-time staff.
05 April 2007 [Read More]

Join us on April 18 at Vic Parlt
Victorian LHMU Childcare Union members are preparing to converge on State Parliament on Wednesday 18 April so they can tell government MPs why our Kennett-era regulations need a major overhaul.
05 April 2007 [Read More]

Easter At Risk Under WorkChoices
Workers' rights to Easter Public Holidays are being slowly but surely eroded under IR laws
04 April 2007 [Read More]

ZCTU national work boycott
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the ZCTU, has called a general work stoppage throughout the country for 3 and 4 April. The ITUC fully supports its Zimbabwean affiliate’s action.
03 April 2007 [Read More]

Govt Fails Age-Old Test
Intergenerational report shows Fed Govt is failing to lift productivity & participation.
03 April 2007 [Read More]

ABCC Raises White Flag on Blue Flu
After a long and costly investigation, the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) has confirmed that no legal action will be taken against anyone over the so-called ‘blue flu’ dispute on the CTA site in Perth in 2005.
02 April 2007 [Read More]

ACTU Calls For $28 Per Week
The ACTU has today called for a pay rise of $28 a week for more than a million award workers to reverse the slide in living standards that Australia's working families are experiencing under the new IR laws.
30 March 2007 [Read More]

Clean Start breaking thru'
Cleaners across Australia are joining the Cleaners Union in big numbers as the Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners campaign moves into its next stage.
28 March 2007 [Read More]

Release David Hicks - Bishop says
Bishop Christopher Saunders, Chairman of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (ACSJC), has called for the immediate release of Australian citizen David Hicks from detention at Guantanamo Bay.
27 March 2007 [Read More]

Year of WorkChoices A Sorry Story
With the Federal Government's new industrial relations laws proving a strong negative for the Liberal Party in the weekend's NSW State election the ACTU will today issue a report showing that after a year of WorkChoices the new IR laws are hurting Australian working families.
26 March 2007 [Read More]

IR Decisive in NSW Election
Concern at the federal industrial relations laws and job cuts in the NSW public sector were the decisive factors for the majority of voters who returned Labor to power in NSW, exit polling carried out for Unions NSW has confirmed.
26 March 2007 [Read More]

Hear more about Vic childcare crisis
Victoria has the worst childcare regulations in Australia. Find out how these regulations are failing our children.
23 March 2007 [Read More]

WA LHMU rejects uranium U-turn
WA’s largest Union has swung its full support behind Premier Alan Carpenter in the continuing debate over the ALP’s ‘no new mines’ Uranium policy.
23 March 2007 [Read More]

Canberra community helps cleaners
The Canberra community has shown today that they really care about the cleaners at Canberra Hospital, with more than 200 signatures gathered in less than 2 hours at a lunch-time.
21 March 2007 [Read More]

Canberra cleaners at ACT parl't
Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners campaigners and supporters will assemble outside the ACT parliament today (Tuesday) at 12.30pm as part of an International Day of Action against Spotless Services.
20 March 2007 [Read More]

Sydney cleaners back Kiwi sisters
Sydney supporters of the Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners campaign will assemble outside the Sydney’s Town Hall House on Tuesday at 4pm as part of an International Day of Action against Spotless Services.
20 March 2007 [Read More]

Soccer Stars Wins Settlement
Sacked mineworker Lorissa Stevens will appear in the Federal Court today to agree a financial settlement with her former employers Mining and Earthmoving Services Pty Ltd (“MES”).
19 March 2007 [Read More]

Act Now! Send Zimbabwe protests now!
The crisis in Zimbabwe has its origins in the misdeeds of President Mugabe's autocratic regime and its mismanagement of the economy. The economy is on the verge of collapse, with officially confirmed hyperinflation at 1,700% per year.
16 March 2007 [Read More]

Dockyard Workers Voice IR Concern
Workers at Sydney's Garden Island dockyard will meet today (Thurs. 15 March) to express their concern over an attempt by their employer the multinational defence contractor Thales Australia to use the Federal Government's IR laws to undermine their pay and conditions.
15 March 2007 [Read More]

ACTU on Zimbabwe crisis
The Australian Council of Trade Unions joined with other trade unions around the world today to condemn the assault and detention of Zimbabwe's opposition and trade union leaders, including Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the main Zimbabwean opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.
15 March 2007 [Read More]

End Kennett-era childcare regulation
Kennett-era regulations leave children at risk of missing out on quality childcare, the LHMU Childcare Union has argued in a submission to a State Government review unveiled this morning.
15 March 2007 [Read More]

Every child counts campaign launch!!
Tomorrow LHMU Childcare Union members will launch their ‘Every Child Counts’ campaign to dramatically improve the quality of childcare Victoria’s children receive
14 March 2007 [Read More]

Watch LHMU’s Child care video!
On Thursday 15 March Victoria’s LHMU Childcare Union members will launch our campaign to strengthen Victoria’s childcare regulations.
14 March 2007 [Read More]

NAB Puts Torch to Jobs
The National Australia Bank has commenced reviews into a range of its Melbourne based back office functions with a view to sending the jobs offshore.
13 March 2007 [Read More]

LHMU vision alternative praised
One of Australia's top economic commentators has praised the LHMU, and other unions, for offering a credible alternative economic vision in the Back on Track — A Way Forward for Australia document launched last week.
12 March 2007 [Read More]

Canberra Hospital cleaners feel sick
Two weeks ago cleaners at Canberra Hospital were told that hours will be cut and many of the full-time day cleaning positions would become short or part-time evening shift jobs.
11 March 2007 [Read More]

Support Union Aid Abroad raffle!
The 2007 Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA raffle is on again!
10 March 2007 [Read More]

WTO talks could worsen job climate
Trade union leaders from Brazil, India, South Africa, and other developing countries, traveled this week to a Global Unions meeting in Geneva to deliver a message to WTO members about rising unemployment if their countries accept demands by developed countries to open up markets for manufactured goods.
10 March 2007 [Read More]

Burrow and cleaners on IWD
On the eve of International Women’s Day a group of Melbourne cleaners joined ACTU president Sharan Burrow outside 121 Exhibition St, a prominent city building, to tell a media scrum that the Howard government’s workplace laws are terrible news for working women.
09 March 2007 [Read More]

Vic childcare regs the worst in Oz
Victoria’s childcare professionals will call for a major overhaul of the state’s childcare regulations, which they believe are the worst in Australia.
09 March 2007 [Read More]

Qantas Conditions Meaningless
The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) tonight warned that the private consortium bidding for Qantas could sidestep Federal Government conditions by shifting assets to JetStar.
07 March 2007 [Read More]

Maintenance Standards At Risk
Aircraft engineers today warned the travelling public that maintenance standards would be compromised and off-shoring accelerated following the Howard government’s decision to green-light the private equity take-over.
07 March 2007 [Read More]

Federal Govt Fails Working Families
A new report released today shows that Australian working families are under enormous pressure as a result of long, irregular working hours and a lack of job security.
06 March 2007 [Read More]

WTO told of bad Oz labour laws
With the World Trade Organisation General Council assessing Australia’s trade policies this week in Geneva, a new ITUC report highlights the negative impacts on the country’s workforce of the Government’s industrial relations laws, which impose heavy restrictions on internationally-recognised labour standards.
06 March 2007 [Read More]

Govt Neglect Costing Jobs
The Federal Government's refusal to stand up for Australian jobs is putting at risk the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in our manufacturing industry says the ACTU.
06 March 2007 [Read More]

Women short changed by IR laws
New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show employees in non-managerial jobs that are on the Federal Government’s AWA individual contracts are working longer hours and for less pay than workers on collective agreements.
01 March 2007 [Read More]

Legal fund for African workers
First of its Kind Legal Action Fund Launched to Raise Standards for African Workers
01 March 2007 [Read More]

New Sunrise for Timorese Workers
Timor Sea Treaty: MUA calls on government and industry for worker participation and ILO standards in Timor Sea oil and gas industry
28 February 2007 [Read More]

Bring killer of unionist to justice!
The Cambodian government must ensure that the killing of trade unionist Hy Vuthy is thoroughly and independently investigated and that all persons responsible are brought to justice in accordance with international standards of fairness, a group of leading human rights and trade union organizations said today.
28 February 2007 [Read More]

Cambodian union leader murdered
The ITUC has called today on the Cambodian authorities to open a proper investigation into the murder of Hy Vuthy, 36, a leader of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of Cambodia (FTUWKC) who was shot to death on February 24.
28 February 2007 [Read More]

Pilots Launch Legal Bid
The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) president Captain Ian Woods will today launch legal proceedings in the Federal Court that could put in doubt the private equity takeover of Qantas.
27 February 2007 [Read More]

Working Families Suffer Wage Cuts
New ABS data on Average Weekly Earnings released today (22 Feb.) reveal that Australian working families are suffering under the new IR laws with average weekly earnings for full time employees failing to keep up with the cost of living.
22 February 2007 [Read More]

Union slams reported Bra dispute
West Australia's largest Union, the LHMU Cleaners Union, has entered the debate over reports that a Kalgoorlie woman, Julie Lockett, is out of a job because she refused to wear a bra to her job as a cleaner.
22 February 2007 [Read More]

Good faith will resolve Ambo dispute
Ambulance Employees Australia-Victoria is calling on the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) to approach talks at 10am this morning in the Industrial Relations Commission in good faith and help bring an end to paramedics’ continuing dispute with their employer.
20 February 2007 [Read More]

ILO-WTO Joint Report
World trade union body the ITUC today welcomed the publication of the first-ever joint study by the ILO and the WTO, “Trade and Employment: Challenges for Policy Research”, as an unprecedented step forward towards achieving genuine coherence in the way the world’s major institutions work together.
20 February 2007 [Read More]

Top Aboriginal employer caught out
The biggest employer of indigenous Australians has been caught out saying one thing to its workers' union and another thing to Canberra politicians.
19 February 2007 [Read More]

Job Cuts = Service Cuts
For the last year the Public Sector Association has been running a Job Cuts = Service Cuts campaign to oppose public service job cuts by both Labor and Liberal/National Governments.
19 February 2007 [Read More]

Beaconsfield Delay Disappointing
The Australian Workers’ Union is disappointed that the deadline for the report into the Beaconsfield Mine collapse has been extended indefinitely.
16 February 2007 [Read More]

Unions To Pursue Climate Change
Unions are holding a national meeting today in Sydney to develop solutions to the growing problem of climate change and global warming that will protect jobs, including those of coal miners, and at the same time put Australian industries on a more environmentally sustainable footing.
16 February 2007 [Read More]

Hockey wrong on cricketers contracts
Contrary to the Minister for Workplace Relations comments on the 7.30 Report last night, Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee are not employed under individual agreements.
15 February 2007 [Read More]

Who will win NSW - does it matter?
The NSW State election on 24 March 2007 is almost here. The issues that dominate include the water crisis facing NSW all the way through to Work Choices.
15 February 2007 [Read More]

ASIC Launches Hardies Proceedings
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced today that it has commenced civil penalty proceedings against James Hardie Industries and others, including Ms Meredith Hellicar, Mr Peter Macdonald, Mr Peter Shafron.
15 February 2007 [Read More]

Roses and violets abound
Cleaners who work at 121 Exhbition St in Melbourne were showered with thanks and praise by the workers whose building they clean.
15 February 2007 [Read More]

Nurses Launch Election Ads
NSW nurses to launch $1.2 million State election advertising campaign in Sydney tomorrow morning
15 February 2007 [Read More]

Howard IR Laws Face Family Test
Female childcare workers will front the NSW Industrial Relations Commission in a battle to retain equal pay and paid maternity leave, in a landmark test of the reach of the Howard Government’s industrial laws.
14 February 2007 [Read More]

Love your Cleaner on Valentine's Day
This Valentine’s Day city office workers are being encouraged to show some love for the people who work hard keeping our city’s offices clean and bright.
13 February 2007 [Read More]

Women, Low Paid Lose
Contrary to the Federal Government's promise that conditions for award workers would be 'protected by law', new research by Professor David Peetz shows that almost 20,000 employees are losing award coverage every month under the new IR laws and that pay for female workers is falling.
13 February 2007 [Read More]

Support AMWU cyberspace campaign!
Thales, a French-based multinational company with approximately 2,700 employees in Australia, must respect workers rights, bargain collectively
11 February 2007 [Read More]

CASA to Investigate Maintenance
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association today welcomed a decision by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to investigate mounting pressure on aircraft engineers to cut corners on safety.
09 February 2007 [Read More]

SA Workers Vote On Strike Action
The first strike ballot for the construction industry in South Australia was authorised late yesterday by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
07 February 2007 [Read More]

Qantas Service Staff Joins Protest
Qantas staff responsible for booking tickets and providing customer service will join protests in Canberra today raising concerns that the private equity sale will see more jobs sent offshore.
07 February 2007 [Read More]

Engineers Forced To Cut Corners
Three-quarters of Qantas engineers say they are pressured to take short cuts on safety.
06 February 2007 [Read More]

Voters Oppose Qantas Sell Off
80% of marginal seat voters say Federal Government isn't doing enough to stop Australian businesses being sold overseas and jobs lost offshore.
05 February 2007 [Read More]

Maintenance Heading Off Shore
Qantas is continuing to secretly send aircraft for maintenance overseas while refusing to find work for willing Australian aircraft engineers, the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association will argue today.
31 January 2007 [Read More]

Hardies Shareholders Must Back Deal
James Hardie's Australian-based shareholders will be briefed by the company on a proposed $4 billion compensation deal for asbestos victims at an Extraordinary Information Meeting in Sydney tomorrow (Thurs. 1 Feb, 2007).
31 January 2007 [Read More]

Building Workers' Jail Threat
The Australian Building and Construction Commission threatened to imprison 31 construction workers just to force them to answer questions about their workplaces, said the National Secretary of the Construction and General Division of the CFMEU, Mr Dave Noonan.
30 January 2007 [Read More]

Adelaide Warned on Off-Shoring
Off-shoring finance sector jobs puts sensitive personal information at risk.
29 January 2007 [Read More]

Workers Threatened Over Safety
Mail deliveries to the Sutherland Shire will be disrupted today because of a dispute over the operation of new IR laws.
25 January 2007 [Read More]

Tamworth Censors Work Bus
The organisers of Saturday's Tamworth Country Music Cavalcade have bowed to political pressure from the National Party and business lobby in banning participation from the local Rights at Work committee.
25 January 2007 [Read More]

Builders Give Blundstone The Boot
Construction workers would be encouraged to ditch their Blundstones if the company moves production off shore, the CFMEU warned today.
18 January 2007 [Read More]

Employer Power to Sack at Will
The full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) has confirmed that the Howard Government’s unfair IR laws, give employers the power to sack staff without employees having the chance to appeal the decision.
16 January 2007 [Read More]

Police Volunteers Misused
Desperately understaffed Local Area Commands are relying on volunteers to plug shortages in support staff , the Public Service Association warned today.
16 January 2007 [Read More]

End Hicks incarceration - union
On the fifth anniversary of the incarceration of David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay, the NSW Teachers Federation calls on the Australian government to take immediate action to repatriate David Hicks.
11 January 2007 [Read More]

New global trade union partnership
A new Council of Global Unions*, including the ITUC, Global Union Federations and the OECD Trade Union Advisory Committee has been formally created at a meeting in Brussels on 9 and 10 January.
11 January 2007 [Read More]

Urgent action for Ethiopia teachers
An urgent action appeal launched by Education International, calling on unions to support the elected union officers of the Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA).
09 January 2007 [Read More]

ACTU welcomes Labor commitment
The ACTU today welcomed the commitment by Federal Labor to a fair IR system that restores the ability to collectively bargain and abolishing the Howard Government’s AWA individual contracts.
04 January 2007 [Read More]

New Year toast for childcare workers
Workers at ABC Childcare Centres across Australia will have a little extra to cheer about as 2007 begins.
04 January 2007 [Read More]

10th annual Website of the Year comp
The Labour Website of the Year, sponsored by LabourStart, is a competition held every year since 1997. Trade union websites from around the world compete and individual union members vote online to decide which is the very best union website.
01 January 2007 [Read More]

Guest workers bust Darwin strike
A national trolley collecting firm has reportedly flown in guest workers from Southern states to bust a week-long strike by Darwin low-paid workers.
20 December 2006 [Read More]

Aboriginal workers forced onto AWAs
Aboriginal Hostels Ltd (AHL) provides temporary accommodation and associated services to Indigenous Australians at more than 100 sites across the country.
18 December 2006 [Read More]

Cleaners meet Gillard
Gillard meets low-paid cleaners who are being dudded a pay increase ordered by the Federal Government’s new Fair Pay Commission.
18 December 2006 [Read More]

Pilots SeekTalks on Private Equity
The Australian and International Pilots Association is open to discussions with the private equity consortium that today made an offer for control of Qantas with a view to ensuring pilots have a stake in the direction the airline takes.
14 December 2006 [Read More]

Govt Must Enforce Law in Qantas
Qantas engineers today called on the Howard Government to enforce provisions under the Qantas Sale Act to ensure the company remains Australian and warned it could take legal action if the bid breached the law.
14 December 2006 [Read More]

G4S focus of global union action
Thousands of trade unionists in nearly two dozen countries, are uniting across borders on December 12 for the first ever international day of action to end the human rights abuses by global security giant Group 4 Securicor (G4S).
12 December 2006 [Read More]

Spotlight on Off-Shoring
Consumers will have the chance to see if their bank is sending their sensitive personal information and Australian jobs offshore with the launch of the bankcheck.net.au website today.
11 December 2006 [Read More]

ACT praises local cleaning companies
The ACT Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, met today with contract cleaning companies who operate in Canberra and have shown their support for ethical cleaning principles.
05 December 2006 [Read More]

Serco Sodexho AWAs queried
The LHMU has called on the Office of the Employment Advocate to investigate whether the global services giant Serco Sodexho has properly registered all their AWAs.
05 December 2006 [Read More]

Members Equity sponsors Nov 30
Members Equity Bank (ME) is sponsoring the national satellite broadcast of the ACTU’s MCG mass rally against ‘WorkChoices’ on Thursday November 30, 2006.
29 November 2006 [Read More]

New Contractor's LAw in Parlt
The Howard Government is pressing ahead with further changes to industrial relations laws with a new 'independent contractor' law to be introduced into Parliament today that gives big business the power to push down contract rates and threaten the take home pay of both contractors and employees alike.
29 November 2006 [Read More]

No further scrutiny of Medibank sale
The Senate committee report into the sale of the Commonwealth's equity in Medibank was tabled on Monday. That means there’s just one step left – a vote of the Senate later this week (on November 30 National Day of Community Protest).
29 November 2006 [Read More]

No choice for bank employees: ACTU
The ACTU says that Commonwealth Bank employees do not have a genuine choice when asked to sign one of the new bank-wide standard AWA individual contracts and challenged the bank to conduct a ballot of staff over whether workers want an individual job contract or a collective agreement.
29 November 2006 [Read More]

Brit unionists back Aussie workers
Hundreds of UK trade unionists are to protest outside the Australian Embassy this week (Thursday 30th November) at anti-worker and anti-trade union labour laws introduced by the Australian government.
28 November 2006 [Read More]

Iran: Free Mansour Osanloo now
Mansour Osanloo, the President of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed) was arrested by plain clothes agents, who refused to show any identification or arrest warrants, on Sunday, November 19, 2006 while he, along with two other union board members, were on their way to the office of the Labour Ministry in Tehran East.
23 November 2006 [Read More]

Final Hardies Agreement Reached
After six years of campaigning and two and a half years of intensive negotiations with James Hardie, unions and asbestos victims groups today secured a final deal from the company to compensate Australian victims of its asbestos products.
21 November 2006 [Read More]

Houston win sparks hope for new era
On the heels of a string of victories in Miami, Los Angeles and Boston that have resulted in dramatic gains for families, more than 5,300 cleaners in Houston have won higher wages, more hours, and health insurance in their first city-wide union contract.
21 November 2006 [Read More]

Big arrests Houston cleaners protest
An 83 year-old woman was hospitalised yesterday when Houston mounted police attacked a peaceful demonstration of striking cleaners in Houston, Texas, USA.
17 November 2006 [Read More]

Westpac Forced To Turn Back on India
Workers at Westpac today claimed a victory as the company announced the jobs of 485 workers handling sensitive customer information are to be kept in Australia.
17 November 2006 [Read More]

Fair Employers Network Launched
Two million Australian union members and their families will get behind businesses that turn their back on the Howard Government’s industrial laws under the Fair Employer Scheme, to be launched by Unions NSW today.
17 November 2006 [Read More]

IR Laws Hit Workers' Wages
New ABS data released this week (16 Nov) shows the IR changes are starting to bite into workers' take home pay with average weekly earnings falling further behind the cost of living for full time workers.
17 November 2006 [Read More]

Former PM opposes Medibank Sale
Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has offered his support to the Save Medibank Alliance
15 November 2006 [Read More]

Ruling Leaves Workers Worse Off
Today’s High Court ruling is a massive disappointment for working people and puts an end to more than 100 years of protection of workers rights under the Constitution.
14 November 2006 [Read More]

Support striking cleaners in Houston
1,700 office cleaners in Houston, Texas are on strike. The cleaners want to win a better life for themselves but standing in their way is a multinational corporation, Caltex's parent company, Chevron, which made $US 14 billion in profits just this last year.
09 November 2006 [Read More]

Health Dept Building Sick?
Wearing chemical suits, gas masks and lab coats Sydney cleaners and their supporters will be outside a major North Sydney office block today ( November 7) warning that we are of the view that Health Department workers may be at risk because of low standards.
07 November 2006 [Read More]

New Union Body To Tackle Greed
ACTU President Sharan Burrow has been elected to head a new global trade union body as its first president. Ms Burrow is currently in Vienna attending the Founding Congress of the new international trade union body: Unions International - the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
06 November 2006 [Read More]

Public Support for Science a Winner
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) supports the central findings of the Productivity Commission’s draft report into Public Support for Science and Innovation, particularly the recognition of clear and significant social, economic and environmental benefits from the Government’s investment in science and innovation.
02 November 2006 [Read More]

Cleaners pester Hobart Council
Tasmanian cleaners today took spare phones to the Town Hall because they are still waiting for the Council to respond to a letter hand delivered on October 18th.
02 November 2006 [Read More]

New global union confederation born
Today sees the dawn of a new trade union international, a stronger and more united voice of workers' worldwide set to tackle the challenge of globalisation with renewed energy and hope.
01 November 2006 [Read More]

Canberra restaurants face worker ban
Four Canberra restaurants have been banned from using the controversial 457 Visa program to bring in skilled migrants to work in their kitchens following a year long campaign by the LHMU Hospitality Union .
01 November 2006 [Read More]

Councils Fight Against Off Shoring
NSW Councils today put banks on notice about their off shoring plans in a resolution passed unanimously at the Local Government Association of NSW conference.
31 October 2006 [Read More]

Public Job Cuts An Election Issue
The Public Service Association will today release a 30-second television advertisement highlight the NSW Opposition’s plans to cut 29,000 public service jobs.
31 October 2006 [Read More]

Historic milestone for global unions
The 19th Congress of the ICFTU, to be held tomorrow in Vienna, will be its last. Following the dissolution of the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) tomorrow morning, the largest trade union international will hold its own Dissolution Congress. This will be followed on Wednesday, November 1, by the Founding Congress of the new trade union international: the International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC.
30 October 2006 [Read More]

How Many Billions Is Enough?
The ANZ is harvesting billions of dollars from Australian consumers, while it continues to send Australian jobs offshore, the Finance Sector Union said today.
26 October 2006 [Read More]

Pay Decision NotAs Good as It Looks
Low paid workers who have been struggling with an 18 month wage freeze have little to celebrate in today’s minimum wage ruling, Unions NSW secretary John Robertson said today.
26 October 2006 [Read More]

ACTU welcomes $27 rise for low-paid
The ACTU has welcomed the $27.36 a week increase for award wages announced by the Fair Pay Commission today saying the decision is a significant win for the ACTU and low-paid workers.
26 October 2006 [Read More]

Bishop condemns 'starvation wages'
Parramatta's Bishop Kevin Manning has described the low wages of cleaners as "theft of their labour" and a contradiction of their human dignity, while top executives earn millions of dollars a year.
26 October 2006 [Read More]

Perth win in WorkChoice Test case
In a landmark decision the LHMU Childcare Union has helped a sacked Perth childcare worker win reinstatement - a decision which has huge ramifications for the Federal WorkChoices laws.
26 October 2006 [Read More]

ACT Parlt and Serco Sodexho
Serco Sodexho, the Anglo-French multinational defence services contractor may today be asked to appear before a parliamentary committee to explain their use of WorkChoice laws.
26 October 2006 [Read More]

Global support for Houston cleaners
The top executives of oil giant Chevron Corp. and the multinational real estate landlord Hines Interests are under fire by a global federation of trade unions for leaving office cleaners in America’s fourth largest city in poverty and allowing unfair treatment of cleaners at their properties.
26 October 2006 [Read More]

Unions NSW Welcome ALP State Pledge
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson today welcomed ALP leader Kim Beazley’s commitment to a continuing role of state industrial relations systems.
25 October 2006 [Read More]

Stop Closure of Armidale Service
Act now to stop the closure of Armidale and District Women's Centre and the Armidale Child Sexual Assault Counselling Service
25 October 2006 [Read More]

Anti-Poverty Week video
Across Australia and New Zealand hundreds of cleaners and supporters turned out last week for Anti-Poverty Week rallies.
25 October 2006 [Read More]

Union mission to Palestine/Israel
The Workers Advice Center (WAC-MAAN) is calling trade unions and workers' organizations to join an international labor delegation to visit Israel and Palestine and to assess job conditions in the Israeli agricultural sector.
25 October 2006 [Read More]

Classifieds the New IR Attack Dog
A Sydney electrical company has taken out advertisements in the employment pages of newspapers to threaten workers before they vote on industrial action.
18 October 2006 [Read More]

Qantas Board Must Reject Off-Shoring
The Australian Services Union today called on Qantas’s Annual General Meeting to reject plans to send 330 IT jobs to India in the interests of the airline.
18 October 2006 [Read More]

St George Warned On Off-Shoring Dang
Finance Sector Union delegates will today warn St George bank management that their decision to off shore jobs is damaging the company’s standing with its customers.
17 October 2006 [Read More]

Premiers & community back cleaners
All State Premiers and Chief Ministers, as well as popular broadcaster Alan Jones, are just some of the more than 40 politicians, religious leaders, and welfare and community groups who have come together on International Anti-Poverty Day to tell the property industry and cleaning contractors it’s time to lift cleaners out of poverty.
17 October 2006 [Read More]

Unions Stand Up against poverty
As part of the Global Month of Action of GCAP, on 15-16 October workers world wide joined the global attempt to set an official Guinness World Record for the biggest number of people ever to Stand Up Against Poverty.
16 October 2006 [Read More]

Cleaners Anti-Poverty Day protest
On International Anti-Poverty Day - Tuesday October 17 - cleaners across Australia are holding rallies and marches as part of the Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners campaign, which is now six months old.
16 October 2006 [Read More]

ACT cleaners in nation-wide protests
On International Anti-Poverty Day - Tuesday October 17 - cleaners across Australia are holding rallies and marches as part of the Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners campaign, which is now six months old.
15 October 2006 [Read More]

Clergy back low-paid cleaners
Moved by the stories of cleaners working for poverty level wages, several religious leaders have advised that they will include Clean Start and Anti-Poverty Week in sermons this Sunday.
13 October 2006 [Read More]

CBA Sets New Off-Shoring Standard
The Finance Sector Union today congratulated the Commonwealth Bank on being the first major bank to rule out the off-shoring of Australian jobs.
13 October 2006 [Read More]

Penrith Your Rights at Work protest
The Penrith Your Rights At Work Campaign will be holding a protest outside of the office of Jim Aitken & Partners Real Estate on Friday, (October 13, 2006).
12 October 2006 [Read More]

Cleaners in noisy Parramatta protest
Cleaners in the Parramatta CBD will rally outside the Octagon building in George St on Friday calling for decency and fair treatment from the big contract ceaner GLAD Cleaning Services.
12 October 2006 [Read More]

Workers Lose Right to Choose Lawyers
The Federal Court has today ruled a federal government agency has the power to prevent a worker it is interrogating from being represented by a lawyer of his choice.
12 October 2006 [Read More]

Womenspeak’s Survey of Childcare
The Womenspeak network is conducting a survey of childcare in Australia which they intend to use in a report to the Australian Government’s Office for Women.
11 October 2006 [Read More]

High farce with Defence Dept AWAs
A key Defence Department contract given to the Anglo-French multinational Serco Sodexho is descending into high farce – reminiscent of a Gilbert and Sullivan show – as the company continues to refuse the cleaners’ request for collective bargaining.
11 October 2006 [Read More]

National Off-Shoring Summit Needed
The Finance Sector Union today called on the Howard Government to convene an urgent National Off-Shoring Summit to develop a national response to combat the off-shoring of Australian jobs.
10 October 2006 [Read More]

Australia Last Port of Call
One seafarer has been confirmed dead with nine others missing as the search for survivors of a maritime tragedy off the Japanese coast this weekend continues.
10 October 2006 [Read More]

Shareholders Join Offshoring Bcklash
Shareholders in Australia’s major banks are being asked to sponsor resolutions that would force the bank’s to rethink off shoring of jobs to India.
09 October 2006 [Read More]

Trade in your 2-ply toilet tissue
Workers at the Defence Department’s Russell Office in Canberra will be handed rolls of one ply toilet tissue as they arrive at work this morning.
06 October 2006 [Read More]

Wy is PM celebrating workers' hurts?
John Howard's decision to celebrate the signing of an AWA in Adelaide today shows just how out of touch with working families the Government has become on the issue of industrial relations.
05 October 2006 [Read More]

Spotlight on Data Theft
The Finance Sector Union today called on Australian banks Westpac, NAB and St George to conduct public audits on where their customer’s sensitive financial information is being held.
05 October 2006 [Read More]

ROCK THE VOTE!
Do you want to have a say in your future? Do you want to know what your rights at work are? Do you want to rock? ROCK THE VOTE takes over Brisbane's RNA Showgrounds on Saturday 18 November.
04 October 2006 [Read More]

Big childcare worker win
ABC Learning Centres childcare workers can expect to get free study and support for tertiary qualifications in a landmark agreement won by the LHMU Childcare Union with Australia's biggest private provider of childcare services.
04 October 2006 [Read More]

True justice neeeded for Chea Vichea
The ICFTU has called today on the authorities of Cambodia to reopen the investigation into the murder of Chea Vichea, President of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC).
04 October 2006 [Read More]

Pay Freeze Enters 16th Mont
The ACTU has called on the Federal Government to hurry up and deliver a pay rise for low paid workers struggling to cope with the rising cost of living as a wage freeze caused by the Government's IR laws enters its sixteenth month.
03 October 2006 [Read More]

Combet joins Bank board
Members Equity Bank is pleased to announce Greg Combet has joined the board.
02 October 2006 [Read More]

Forum on marginalised workers

Building Int'l saddened by Oz death
Building union international - BWI - is very shocked and saddened at the loss of life of Australian union activist - Jill Bowling, former IFBWW Director of Global Wood and Forestry Programme.
30 September 2006 [Read More]

Bank supports unionists under attack
Members Equity Bank - the workers' bank - is offering help to 16 Radio Rental staff locked out of their Adelaide employer's premises and any other unionists suffering financial hardships due to lock outs and disputes.
29 September 2006 [Read More]

Cleaners & Anti-Poverty Week events
CBD cleaners are preparing for major nation-wide Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners rallies during Anti-Poverty Week with organizing committees and activist groups meeting last weekend - and more to meet this week.
29 September 2006 [Read More]

UK lawyer at Syd asbestos seminar
The Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia (ADFA) is holding a free information seminar in Granville (NSW) on October 17 with Anthony Coombs, a leading UK asbestos lawyer.
28 September 2006 [Read More]

Brethren's union law change in NZ
NZ's biggest union is glad the NZ Labour government is considering a move that would strip the Exclusive Brethren of labour law exemptions.
27 September 2006 [Read More]

Gvt selling Medibank 'on the sly'
Despite promising to postpone the sale of Medibank until after the next election, a leaked document shows the Government is on the verge of stripping the insurer’s ‘not-for-profit’ status.
27 September 2006 [Read More]

IR Laws Pushing Down Wages
A new ACTU analysis of ABS data shows the IR changes are starting to bite into workers' take home pay with the latest data showing that in the last twelve months average earnings failed to keep pace with inflation for the first time in five years, since the introduction of the GST.
27 September 2006 [Read More]

Tear Up Your AWA Day at Sydney Uni
The Community and Public Sector Union and General Staff at the University of Sydney have organised a Tear-Up-Your-AWAs protest day to object to the Federal Government’s blackmailing of universities to implement draconian industrial relations agenda and to show support for the Union Collective Agreement.
27 September 2006 [Read More]

Heineann Workers Call For Law Change
Electrical workers are calling on the Federal Government to change the laws which saw themm docked a weeks pay for refusing to do overtime.
27 September 2006 [Read More]

ILO's Colombia Move Gets Boost
The global union movement has declared September 26 an day of action in support of setting up International Labour Organisation represetation in Colombia.
27 September 2006 [Read More]

Woolies Workers Stop Work
Forklift and machinery maintenance workers at three Woolworths distribution facilities - Acacia Ridge, Coopers Plains and Larapinta – have today (25 September) stepped up their industrial action against the company in an attempt to finalise a new collective wages agreement.
25 September 2006 [Read More]

Zimbabwe Should Drop Union Charges
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions is calling on Zimbabwe to drop charges against 30 union activists.
25 September 2006 [Read More]

Government Imports Child Care
A decision by the Federal Government to seek childcare co-ordinators from offshore is not the answer to the shortage of workers in the childcare industry says the ACTU.
21 September 2006 [Read More]

Woolies Workers Check Out
Forklift and machinery maintenance workers at three Woolworths distribution facilities - Acacia Ridge, Coopers Plains and Larapinta – have decided to go ahead with a short stop work meeting at noon today (21 September) in an attempt to finalise a new collective wages agreement.
21 September 2006 [Read More]

NTEU Slams Attack on Freedoms
Academic freedom, a fundamental feature of our universities and a key part of their domestic and international reputation, is under threat by increased Federal Government interference in university affairs and Australia’s reaction to the ‘war on terror’, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said on Thursday.
21 September 2006 [Read More]

Where's Wazza Workers Hunt Howard
A delegation of electrical workers and other workers will “welcome” Prime Minister John Howard to Cairns today (21 September) as part of their campaign to protect people’s rights at work.
21 September 2006 [Read More]

Academics Discuss Threat to Freedoms
Approximately 200 staff from universities around Australia, representing 28,000 members, will take part in the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) National Council 2006.
20 September 2006 [Read More]

Big Names Tackle Public Education
Eminent Canadian philosopher John Ralston Saul heads up an all-star cast at the Conerstone conference discussing public education in Sydney this Friday and Saturday.
20 September 2006 [Read More]

Bank Off-Shoring Bad All Round
On the eve of the Westpac’s announcement about the future of 485 jobs, the Finance Services Union today released a new report detailing concerns about the impact of off-shoring banking jobs on Australian workers and consumers.
20 September 2006 [Read More]

Cleaners to tell Comm'wlth Bank
Cleaners will hold a cake stall outside the Commonwealth Bank’s Melbourne headquarters today at 385 Bourke Street.
20 September 2006 [Read More]

WFTU backs WA 107
The World Federation of Trade Unions has called on its affiliates to organise actions of solidarity and support the 107 building workers being prosecuted by the Howard Government in Western Australia.
19 September 2006 [Read More]

Zimbabwe : Day of union solidarity
The ICFTU is calling for an international day of action on Friday 22nd September to protest against worsening anti-union repression in Zimbabwe.
19 September 2006 [Read More]

Act now against Mugabe brutality
On Wednesday 13 September 2006, an estimated 400 trades unionists were rounded up by police in Zimbabwe, including Wellington Chibebe, Lovemore Matombo and Lucia Matibenga, (the General Secretary, President and Vice President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions).
16 September 2006 [Read More]

Mugabe tortures unionists
The Zimbabwean authorities must immediately release the members of the Zimbabwean Council of Trade Unions (ZCTU), more than a dozen of whom have been tortured and injured following their arrest on September 13, 2006.
16 September 2006 [Read More]

World Bank fails youth
As the World Bank launches its annual flagship publication, the World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation, the global labour movement laments its approach on how to get more young people into employment.
16 September 2006 [Read More]

Union-run bank lashes out
Australia's union movement bank, Members Equity Bank (ME) is concerned that aggressive lending practices are placing working Australians at risk of financial hardship.
15 September 2006 [Read More]

New Building Union Head Elected
Dave Noonan was elected as National Secretary of the CFMEU Construction & General Division on September 12. He was unopposed for the position.
13 September 2006 [Read More]