Historic day for workers

Historic day for workers

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...
Redundancies by stealth still rampant

Redundancies by stealth still rampant

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,...
60 days more work for same pay

60 days more work for same pay

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...
Employer threatens staff over refusal to volunteer

Employer threatens staff over refusal to volunteer

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)...
Nuclear bargaining tactic misused by employers

Nuclear bargaining tactic misused by employers

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...
Members’ voices reach Canberra

Members’ voices reach Canberra

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...
Sadly wage theft still on the menu

Sadly wage theft still on the menu

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...
$110k fines to silence workers

$110k fines to silence workers

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...
Wage rises can’t wait

Wage rises can’t wait

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...
School officers make a difference

School officers make a difference

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...
Wages frozen: employees told to wait

Wages frozen: employees told to wait

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...
Workers lose $10k

Workers lose $10k

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...
Members celebrate the IEU difference

Members celebrate the IEU difference

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,...
Australia’s insecure work shame

Australia’s insecure work shame

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...
A legislative agenda for working women?

A legislative agenda for working women?

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...
Natural disaster leave provides crucial support

Natural disaster leave provides crucial support

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...
Respect@Work lite a failure for working women

Respect@Work lite a failure for working women

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...
Federal agenda puts super futures at risk

Federal agenda puts super futures at risk

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...