17,08,22 | 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 | 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...
27,02,22 | Industrial advice, Workers' rights
The Queensland Government has made the decision to close all state schools across Metropolitan Brisbane and the South East as well as some schools in the North Coast and Darling Downs South West regions due to the flood situation. The schools are those that fall into...
23,02,22 | COVID-19, Workers' rights
The aged care and disability sectors need urgent support from the federal government through appropriate remuneration as well as better access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and RATs (Rapid Antigen Tests), so that the essential services the sectors provide can...
22,02,22 | Member action, School support staff, Workers' rights
Northern Territory Catholic school members remain locked in a dispute with their employer who has failed to pay staff their public holidays loadings for many years. IEU members employed as boarding school staff at St John’s Catholic School (Darwin) contacted our union...
22,02,22 | COVID-19, Member action, Workers' rights
Our union is calling on school employers to provide immediate access to paid pandemic leave for staff who test positive to COVID-19 or are exposed to the virus and required to comply with public health directives. Unfortunately, employers in the non-government...
18,02,22 | Union win, Workers' rights
The New South Wales Transport Workers Union (TWU) won a landmark decision today that will see couriers receive enforceable pay rises between 36 and 46 per cent over three years and further protections – including for Amazon flex drivers in a world first. The TWU led...
31,01,22 | COVID-19, Workers' rights
Our union welcomes the safe return to school plan announced by Education Minister Grace Grace, which will set the parameters and act as a reference point for non-government education employers. IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said the plan will provide clarity...
14,01,22 | COVID-19, Workers' rights
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has condemned, in the strongest possible terms, the Prime Minister’s failure at National Cabinet yesterday (13 January) to ensure Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) be made free and accessible for all; to protect worker and...
02,12,21 | Professional issues, Workers' rights
Alarming new research confirms what our union has long campaigned against; the substantial difficulties teachers on contracts face due to their insecure employment status, as Emily Campbell writes. A recent survey of 18,000 members of the NSW Teachers’ Federation...
19,11,21 | Workers' rights
Despite rising levels of insecure work, Australians working multiple jobs to survive and collective bargaining legislation that continues to provide employers with the balance of power, the current federal government shows little intention to consider industrial...
19,11,21 | Equity, Workers' rights
The federal government has missed a landmark opportunity to address workplace harassment following the passage of its watered-down Respect@Work legislation. The legislation formed part of the government’s response to the Human Rights Commission’s 2020 Respect@Work...
19,11,21 | Equity, Industrial advice, Workers' rights
The new Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Act 2021 (the Act) aims to combat the prevalence of sexual harassment in Australia by clarifying and simplifying sexual harassment laws and encouraging meaningful cultural change in workplaces, as...
19,11,21 | Workers' rights
The Australian super system is, at its heart, an enduring victory for workers, something the current federal government has done its best to undermine. The current federal government’s controversial Your Super, Your Future bill, which passed the Senate in June of this...
18,11,21 | Professional issues, Workers' rights
Information overload was a buzz phrase before the internet, before messaging, the 24/7 news cycle, social media, analytics, keyboard tracking, UX design, LinkedIn,and PowerPoint. But it’s a reality here and now for teachers, writes Will Brodie. Coined in 1964 and...
17,11,21 | Equity, Professional issues, Workers' rights
IEU submission calls for affordable access to childcare; measures to counter the sustained prevalence of discrimination and gendered violence in communities and workplaces; and addressing women’s particular vulnerability to social and economic hardship. IEU-QNT Branch...
03,11,21 | Equity, Workers' rights
Image credit: Nils Versemann / Shutterstock.com A new law requiring Australian voting to show ID on election day is unjustified and could create barriers to voting for some of our most marginalised in the community. IEU Branch Secretary Terry Burke said the federal...
03,11,21 | Superannuation, Workers' rights
3 million Australian workers have had $5 billion in superannuation stolen by employers according to a recently released Industry Super Australia report. Young workers and low-income earners experience the highest rates of theft; a third of those under 30 are underpaid...
14,10,21 | Workers' rights
All workers have a right to be safe at work, not just from physical injuries but also from work-related psychological injuries and poor mental health. Mental health continues to be the fastest growing challenge to the safety of working people in their workplaces...
14,10,21 | Union win, Workers' rights
More workers are eligible to convert from casual to ongoing employment following legislative changes made in the wake of a union campaign for secure jobs. Recent changes to the Fair Work Act mean employers (with more than 15 employees) are now required to consider...
15,09,21 | Member action, Workers' rights
The action taken by IEU members to secure paid pandemic leave in many of our workplaces has made a crucial difference during this health crisis. The pandemic has placed significant stress on all school staff, making access to paid leave critical when it comes to some...
