Message from the National Secretary: Spring 2024

Coming into the tail end of the year, the AWU is as busy as ever, with our National Conference taking place in Perth for the first time ever. This year, our Conference theme is Unity, Strength, and Power, focusing on how we have brought workers together, what are we fighting for, and what the AWU has achieved.

It was an incredible four days for AWU delegates, officials, and guests in WA. As my first Conference as National Secretary, it exceeded every expectation and I want to thank everyone who made it possible, from the staff behind the scenes, to the delegates who addressed Conference. We reflected on the massive shifts we’re seeing in our industries, and how as a union we can rise to the challenges coming on the near horizon.

You can read more about our 2024 National Conference in our special wrap-up in this issue. Be on the lookout for some familiar faces from your branch!

In recent months, the AWU has also welcomed Chris Donovan as our Assistant National Secretary. Chris first joined the AWU as a NSW Branch organiser in 2017, where he led a campaign which won $1.6 million in back pay for seafood processing workers.

More recently, Chris has led our campaign to protect workers exposed to silica dust around Australia. I can’t think of anyone more committed to the union and workers’ safety that will make a strong addition to the AWU’s national leadership team.

As our economy finally recovers after a four-year downturn, we’ve been fighting to ensure wages recover alongside it. This means negotiating fair enterprise agreements with some of the country’s most profitable employers.

And while this year we’ve been up against some of Australia’s most profitable employers, our unity between our branches and with other unions have made these challenging fights possible.

As we held our National Conference in Perth, far north in WA our members have been ratcheting up to take on Australia’s biggest iron ore companies.

Our country has seen some of the best growth in the iron ore sector in over a decade, and while we celebrate the success of our industries, it is more important the workers who make them possible are paid fairly.

You can read more in this issue about our fight to re-unionise the Pilbara and what this will mean for mine workers!

At Qantas, we’ve partnered with the AMWU and ETU to bring our line maintenance engineers together for their first industrial action in almost twenty years. This began with a strike that made headlines across Australia, with almost a thousand engineers downing tools and calling for a decent offer.

Our members aren’t backing down without a fight. After months of negotiations, Qantas management still refuse to come to the table with a fair offer and won’t address our members’ log of claims.

When times were tough, our members took the hit and accepted four years of wage freezes. Qantas is back to making billion-dollar profits but refuse to offer more than a 3% increase.

There’s just one word for this behaviour – greed.

Our members work incredibly hard to get Australians where they need to go safely. Qantas simply wouldn’t have the reputation it does without the efforts of its engineering workers.

It’s time to value their skills and give them a fair share of those billion-dollar profits. We’re proud to stand behind Qantas Engineering Alliance members as they continue to fight for what they deserve – a fair wage increase.

Every worker in Australia has the right a fair go, and that includes our neighbours from the Pacific who work on our farms and aged care centres. But right now, the laws aren’t entirely fair, especially when it comes to superannuation. Pacific Islander workers who enter Australia on the PALM scheme struggle to access their superannuation, and payments are taxed at a very high rate.

That is why the AWU is campaigning to make things fairer for PALM workers. We’re calling on the Commonwealth to reduce the unfair tax rate on superannuation payments, give PALM workers more options to transfer their superannuation into retirement funds in their home countries, and make it easier for PALM workers to access their super payments. Read more about our Resolution to Super Power the Pacific in our Conference wrap-up!

Heading into the silly season, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. To our many members working through the holidays, enjoy your union-won penalty rates – and thank you for keeping our country moving. Enjoy this issue of the Worker, and see you at work in 2025!