AWU National News: Latest Stories

AWU wants emissions permits for workers, not just corporations - 23 July 2008
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.

The AWU and the Beaconsfield Inquiry - 22 July 2008
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.

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

Qantas job cuts a sign of tough economic times - 18 July 2008
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.

Keep energy and resource jobs in Australia to cut global greenhouse: AWU - 14 July 2008
Up to 15,000 Australian jobs could be under threat, Australia’s biggest energy and resource union, the AWU warned today.

Safety and training in the Queensland diving industry under the spotlight - 09 July 2008
Australia’s dive industry is booming but lacks critical unified safety standards and professional training, said the Australian Workers' Union in Cairns today.

Keeping working Australians in the debate about a green future and secure jobs - 07 July 2008
The Rudd Government’s commitment to meet their Climate Change timetable is admirable, Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary, said today.

Union warns against being wrong-footed on Climate Change - 04 July 2008
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.

Global energy giant facing more claims of misuse of guest workers - 01 July 2008
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.

New AWU Secretary for WA plans aggressive push into mining heartland - 30 June 2008
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.

EastLink welcomed by those who built it - 30 June 2008
Australian Workers’ Union members who built the $2.5 billion EastLink project are filled with a sense of pride as the nation’s biggest road project opens to the public.

AWU pushes for 5 per cent- above inflation - pay rises - 27 June 2008
The AWU is pushing for minimum wage claims of 5 per cent a year at several major listed companies, including a planned strike at a strategic CSR sugar refinery, just as the Queensland cane harvest gathers pace.

USA must pressure China to adopt decent global emissions trading standards: AWU - 25 June 2008
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.

Collective bargaining lifts pay and community standards say unions in new TV ads - 21 June 2008
Unions will ramp up the campaign to scrap Work Choices and bring in new laws that protect workers’ rights with the release of two new union TV advertisements that highlight the value of collective bargaining for Australian workers.

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

Union thankful no one killed at Varanus Island - 19 June 2008
AWU members at the Varanus Island gas explosion site in Western Australia have told their union that many of the workers believe it was more by luck than good management that no one was killed.

Are you under debt stress? So is the worker on the other side of the counter - 17 June 2008
When was the last time you were able to visit your local bank branch without being offered a credit card or a loan?

AWU wants Govt to look at plan to trap CO2 under depleted offshore gas fields - 16 June 2008
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.

New employment standards: Step towards plugging gaps left by Work Choices - 16 June 2008
The Labor Government's new National Employment Standards (NES) announced today are an important step towards plugging the gaps in workers’ rights and entitlements that have been left by Work Choices say unions.

Safety campaign honours BlueScope steel worker - 11 June 2008
BlueScope Steel in Port Kembla have begun a Stop for Safety campaign in response to a NSW-wide ban by the Australian Workers' Union on the use of high pressure hoses.