28,11,22 | Collective bargaining, Equity, Workers' rights
Australian workers can have hope – hope that the decade of policies that have suppressed wages is over thanks to the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill. Hope that this legislation delivers more secure jobs and better pay and make work fairer for women.
23,11,22 | Equity, Union win, Workers' rights
Religious discrimination exemptions have been removed from the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Act after new laws were passed by parliament this week. IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke welcomed the passing of a suite of amendments which he said will foster...
23,11,22 | Collective bargaining, Workers' rights
The federal government’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill would change the working lives of many Australians – making collective bargaining fairer and restoring balance to the process – the exact reason why so many employers are fighting against the Bill. IEU-QNT...
21,11,22 | Collective bargaining, Workers' rights
A plan for “indefinite” non-contact duties and no provision for release time used for planning, preparation and correction (PPCT) are just wish-list items the employer at The Essington School is seeking during collective bargaining negotiations. The employer has a...
01,11,22 | Collective bargaining, Jobs Summit, Union win, Workers' rights
Big business and employer groups’ pushback on legislative changes designed to improve wages and balance out the bargaining process smacks of hypocrisy following their decade-long failure to protect workers. IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said employer and big...
01,11,22 | Industrial advice, Workers' rights
Southern Cross University has been accused of denying the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) its legal right to investigate serious work health and safety issues. 82% of staff experiencing psychosocial hazards An NTEU official gave notice he would enter the...
01,11,22 | Jobs Summit, Workers' rights
It’s a tough time for Australian workers, with most facing the current cost-of-living crisis with record-breaking real wage cuts and insecure jobs, forcing thousands to work through injuries and illness. Real wage cuts set new record Working people have struggled...
01,11,22 | Early childhood, Union win, Workers' rights
The support of our union has helped secure significant redundancy payments for two members employed in the early childhood education sector. Earlier this year, an employer advised staff working at the Queensland kindergarten of a major workplace change: that they...
01,11,22 | Collective bargaining, Union win, Workers' rights
IEU members have welcomed the federal government’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill as an important first step to fairer workplace laws. IEU Federal Secretary Christine Cooper said these changes will make a difference to the wages and working lives of countless members...
13,10,22 | Collective bargaining, Workers' rights
The denial of basic industrial action by the Fair Work Commission (FWC), which was to include a ban on answering the phone, is the latest example of just how broken Australia’s bargaining laws are. In a bizarre attack on attempted industrial action by the National...
12,10,22 | Workers' rights
Employers would be required to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment under new legislation. The federal government’s Respect@Work Bill seeks to implement more of the landmark Respect@Work report recommendations. The proposed legislation would place...
12,10,22 | Industrial advice, Workers' rights
IEU members are increasingly reporting ageist employer actions including being “pushed” towards retirement. Our union has heard from members in various sectors who believe they have been treated adversely due to their age. Members have reported: being questioned about...
01,09,22 | Industrial advice, Workers' rights
Our union has recently supported a number of IEU members with psychological injuries through WorkCover claims, particularly in high-risk educational workplaces. IEU Industrial Officer Melanie Stellmacher said no matter the workplace, employers owe a duty of care to...
01,09,22 | Equity, Member action, Union win, Workers' rights
Our union’s advocacy has resulted in the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC) accepting and upholding an IEU members’ discrimination and sexual harassment complaint, despite it being raised outside the strict 12 month time limitation. IEU-QNT Industrial Services...
31,08,22 | Jobs Summit, Workers' rights
The federal government’s Jobs Summit kicking off in Canberra on 1 September could herald in a new era for workers. With a touted agenda of improving working conditions, boosting wages, addressing skills shortages and closing gender gaps, the summit provides the real...
31,08,22 | Workers' rights
Members should be aware of insidious tactics used by some employers who are shamefully giving their staff “redundancies by stealth”. IEU-QNT Industrial Officer Dan Wilson said a recent shameful example was of a member who had worked 24 hours per week for 16 years,...
31,08,22 | Equity, Workers' rights
On Monday, the typical Australian woman reached an unhappy milestone – the additional days after the financial year they needed to work to earn the same as a man. This year the gap is 60 days, representative of a national gender pay gap of 14.1%. The average male...
29,08,22 | Jobs Summit, Workers' rights
Unions and employer groups have reached consensus on skills and training reform ahead of the landmark Jobs Summit later this week. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Ai Group and the Business Council of...
29,08,22 | Professional issues, Workers' rights
The federal government will deliver an action plan in December 2022, following the recent round table discussion on the national teacher workforce crisis hosted by Federal Education Minister Jason Clare. The National Teacher Workforce Action Plan will include the...
17,08,22 | Jobs Summit, Workers' rights
The union movement has signalled support for expanded migration if key reforms are implemented. Wages growth and investment in skills and training for Australian workers must be prioritised alongside expanding the yearly permanent migration program to 200,000 places,...
16,08,22 | Jobs Summit, Workers' rights
Ensuring full and secure employment should be the top macro-economic goal of the federal government’s upcoming Jobs Summit. A paper released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) ahead of the September summit outlines how the economy could be overhauled in...
09,08,22 | Workers' rights
University staff at RMIT have been threatened over their refusal to volunteer for unpaid work. Last month RMIT staff were urged by Vice Chancellor Alec Cameron to volunteer their time at upcoming university open days. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU)...
09,08,22 | Workers' rights
Employers threatening to terminate collective agreements and force workers onto minimum Award conditions has become shamefully commonplace. Svitzer – Australia’s largest tugboat operator – is the latest employer to threaten this nuclear bargaining tactic in a move...
09,08,22 | Professional issues, Workers' rights
IEU members’ voices have been heard loud and clear in Canberra following a delegation of members to Parliament House last week. The two days of action, organised by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), saw a delegation of 90 union members meet with 92 MPs...
15,07,22 | Workers' rights
Despite numerous high-profile cases, egregious examples of wage theft continue to be unearthed. A Brisbane sushi restaurant has been ordered to pay $355,000 in penalties after deliberately underpaying 34 employees and falsifying records during a Fair Work Ombudsman...
15,07,22 | Early childhood, Workers' rights
A Brisbane-based community kindergarten employer wants to freeze wages, cut redundancy provisions and exclude new admin staff from the centre’s new agreement altogether. It comes after our union warned members in the sector to be aware of underhanded attacks to...
15,07,22 | Industrial advice, Union win, Workers' rights
IEU membership has made the difference in the face of an increasing number of employers who have refused safe work for pregnant employees. IEU-QNT Industrial Services Officer Michael Featherstone said safe job protections provided critical support for pregnant...
15,07,22 | Union win, Workers' rights
IEU support successfully overturns WorkCover decision after it refused to cover the surgery costs of member injured at work. IEU-QNT Industrial Officer Rosey Sorbello said the member injured their ankle on a school excursion. “The member was injured while carrying out...
15,07,22 | Collective bargaining, Workers' rights
NSW Government seeks to impose $110,000 fines for workers who go on strike directly undermining the right to strike in legislation. This unprecedented move would see unions and their members liable for legal costs that would accumulate to hundreds of thousands of...
15,06,22 | Member action, Workers' rights
The right to a safe and healthy work environment is now enshrined int the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) framework of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The right to a healthy and safe workplace was adopted as a new fundamental right at this...
09,06,22 | Workers' rights
Big business is thriving while workers struggle amidst cost of living crisis. New Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures show working people are missing out, despite increased productivity and business profits doubling over the last year. The figures come as...
08,06,22 | School support staff, Workers' rights
IEU Chapters have marked School Officer Day (Wednesday, 8 June) with celebrations recognising the difference school officers and services staff members make to our schools and to education. IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said school officers had been an...
17,05,22 | Member action, Workers' rights
Recent wet weather and unseasonably high levels of humidity across Queensland has led to an increase in the prevalence of mould being reported at school sites. Members should be aware of the dangers associated with mould in the workplace and ensure their IEU chapter...
17,05,22 | Union win, Workers' rights
In an historic move more than 2.5 million additional workers will receive paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave. An in-principle decision from industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission (FWC), will see 10 days’ paid FDV leave included in modern awards. The...
16,05,22 | Member action, Workers' rights
Queensland Catholic employers seeking to freeze school officer wages despite the deepening cost of living crisis, with teachers likely to follow. School officers and services staff should have received a wage increase from 1 May 2022 with teachers scheduled for an...
16,05,22 | COVID-19, Member action, Workers' rights
Over 7000 aged care workers have walked off the job in protest at the current federal government’s inaction to address workload and low wages within the aged care sector. Thousands took the action in protest of the current federal government’s failure fix working...
16,05,22 | Workers' rights
The average Australian worker would have earned $10,000 more if real wages had kept pace with productivity since 2013 – the year the Coalition federal government was elected. The figure was revealed in a new Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) report, released...
03,05,22 | Member action, Workers' rights
IEU members joined tens of thousands of union members from across Queensland and the Northern Territory over the long weekend to celebrate Labour Day/ May Day 2022. This year, members took part in events held in Alice Springs, Brisbane, Bundaberg, Cairns, Darwin,...
28,04,22 | Industrial advice, Member benefits, Union win, Workers' rights
An employer’s attempt to seek an IEU member’s medical information from their treating practitioner has been stopped thanks to support from our union. IEU-QNT Industrial Services Officer Jill McKeon said the member who had been absent from work due to illness for some...
28,04,22 | Workers' rights
With more than one in four workers now in insecure work, the current federal government has failed to address job insecurity for hundreds of thousands of Australians – including many IEU members. Job insecurity didn’t happen by accident. “Australia used to have the...
28,04,22 | Workers' rights
One worker every two days is killed on the job in Australia, according to a major report by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) into the Morrison federal government’s failings on work health and safety. Scott Morrison has also overseen an appalling 32 per...
11,04,22 | Workers' rights
With the federal election approaching many working women will be considering how their vote can make a difference in defining the nation’s legislative agenda. The past two years have been a time of reckoning for working women. Reckoning with the fault lines exposed by...
21,03,22 | Professional issues, Workers' rights
The ongoing impact of COVID-19 has worsened the risks of long-term damage to principals’ health and wellbeing, according to the latest Australia Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey. This is the 11th year of the annual survey, tracking the health...
16,03,22 | Beginning Educators (BEnet), Union win, Workers' rights
An employer’s attempt to discriminate on the basis of a medical injury was thwarted after assistance from our union’s experienced Industrial Services Team. The member, a university student in the final stage of their teaching degree, contacted our Industrial Services...
16,03,22 | Union win, Workers' rights
Our union’s assistance and advocacy has led to a pregnant member being reassigned to a safe job where she is performing alternative duties for the duration of her pregnancy. The classroom teacher was advised by her doctor that pregnant women are at increased risk of...
16,03,22 | Workers' rights
When floodwaters inundated vast areas of South East Queensland last month thousands of Queenslanders faced devastating impacts. For IEU members, access to paid natural disaster leave provided crucial support during stressful and challenging circumstances. As...
16,03,22 | Workers' rights
The number of Australians who need more than one job to make ends meet – which had already been at a record high – has climbed even higher according to new data released this morning by the ABS. The number of secondary jobs now sits at 954,000, up from the previous...
16,03,22 | Early childhood, Workers' rights
IEU members in the early childhood education sector need to be on alert, after multiple employers have tried to, and in some cases succeeded in, removing important working rights from collective agreements, particularly redundancy payment provisions. IEU Organiser...
03,03,22 | Industrial advice, Workers' rights
Flooding and severe weather in South East Queensland continue to pose a significant threat to community safety. Dozens of schools from northern Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay and Bundaberg areas have today been advised to have students collected by parents....
01,03,22 | Industrial advice, Workers' rights
Our union filed an urgent dispute late last night with the industrial umpire – the Fair Work Commission (FWC) – over Brisbane Catholic Education’s decision to reopen the majority of schools today Tuesday, 1 March 2022. IEU Chapters should meet urgently today to...
