BAE and Councils fight back in SA!

The SA branch held its annual members dinner with over 300 members and guests attending the event at the iconic Adelaide Oval. We celebrated the achievements of AWU delegate Tim West who led a strong Union member’s campaign at BAE. AWU members raised over $13,000 on the night for Local charity Kick Start for kids who deliver over 60,000 breakfasts and lunches to underprivileged children in South Australia. Overall the night was a success!

After 2 years of bargaining which included FWC conciliation, federal ministerial meetings, private conciliation and 7 months of industrial action, BAE union members voted up an enterprise agreement that delivered a 25% wage increase over 5 years including 4% back pay over 12 months, an improved classification system and a delegates rights charter that allows delegates to attend all inductions on site.

BAE started with a 3% per year offer with NO back pay, which kick started the campaign led by our delegates Tim and Bill. Union members took multiple 1-hour work stoppages leading up to 24 hour and then 48-hour work stoppages over a protracted period. Bill and Tim kept union members engaged and focused throughout the campaign which is a difficult task. Well done to the AWU members at BAE for their fight and solidarity during the negotiations and industrial action to achieve a decent outcome!

Metropolitan local government delegates recently attended a training day in Adelaide to discuss topics relating to their industry.

The AWU is seeking to introduce further standards and consistency into ALL Council enterprise agreements. This consistency is aimed at supporting our members who work at councils in SA. One of the standards is including a delegates rights and the role of the AWU clause into State based Enterprise Agreements. These terms in agreements will increase delegates rights at work and provide the assistance required to increase union density and empower union members to achieve greater outcomes together. It’s time to regain some balance back to the workers in local government before CEO’s and management destroy the industry. We also intend to run similar training sessions in the regions.

Whilst on local government, our members at Salisbury Council held stop-work meetings out front of the Council chambers to protest against managements actions towards our members. Salisbury Council has formed a heavy-handed approach to its own workers, with constant stand downs, investigations over lengthy periods and unwarranted disciplinary action. Our members have simply had enough and are pushing back hard!

Thank you to all the AWU members who have supported us this year. Have a safe and happy Christmas. We look forward to keeping up the fight in 2026!