Your Rights at Work
My last post before I go on holiday to Hawks Nest for a week with my partner and friends. I hope to post with a couple of pictures. But before then I wanted to post one more time and I could not let the day go by without mentioning the unions campaign rally today around the country.
The Your Rights at Work campaign started a long time ago and I feel had an enormous impact electorally for Labor. However, the intense campaign that happened in 2005 has died down somewhat, inevitably i guess, but I think (or hope) today's rally around the county is the start of an intense campaign leading up to the next election.
This is important because lets remind ourselves of what Howard's legislation has done to our working rights:
- You could be sacked with no right to challenge it
- Your right to redundancy pay could be removed
- Minimum rights outlined in awards will be reduced
- Your boss can demand you sign an individual contract
(Australian Workplace Agreement.)
- You may be ‘locked out’ indefinitely if you don’t
- Your only option if sacked may be expensive court
proceedings
- It may become illegal to tell anyone what is in your AWA
- It will become harder to gain fair minimum wage outcomes
- Your right to meet with union representatives will be
further limited
- It will be even harder to take industrial action to protect your
wages and conditions
Worth fighting against? Two things you can do. First, join your union. I am applying to the teachers federation as we speak. Second, participate in the Your Rights at Work campaign.
posted by Joel MacRae @ 7:42 am
2 comments
2 Comments:
Agree wholeheartedly with your comments above. I'd note that in the past it's been quite difficult for some people to work out which union to join. However, apparently the ACTU has finally woken up to this and instituted a one-stop shop to join a union, regardless of your job/industry. There's a news release about this on the Your Rights at Work website. The one-stop-shop phone number is 1300 486 466. You can also join online at http://www.actu.asn.au/joinaunion/default.aspx. I'm not world's biggest fan of the ACTU (and many of the leaders in the various unions) but I think it's more important than ever to join up and make sure that someone is standing up for our rights in the workplace. (If you join up too you can have your say on the direction of the unions and how they represent us.)
You and I think alike, Sam. Thanks for your info, and you are quite right to point out past difficulties in joining a union. Hopefully that has been fixed.
At some point in the future, perhaps in 2008 (after state and fed elections) and have settled into a teaching position, I will become heavily involved in the teachers fed. A good union.
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