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Introduction
ASU Indigenous Members share unique interests and have special needs. There are many indigenous members working in industries covered by the ASU around Australia.
The ASU is encouraging the formation of an ASU Indigenous network across the Union to caucus and advise the Union on advocacy of indigenous issues.
The ASU is active in Indigenous Issues within the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the various State and regional Trades and Labour Councils. Read more about the ACTU's Indigenous Committee
The ACTU Indigenous Committee developed in 2008 a Charter of Indigenous Rights through which we can engage Indigenous peoples in a conversation around what their rights at work mean to them. A report of the ACTU Indigenous Committee was tabled at the ACTU Congress 2006
The ACTU issued the following statement regarding the issue of a treaty: Treaty is next step in reconciliation
ASU Award coverage for indigenous members
Large concentrations of ASU indigenous members work in the Social & Community Services Industry, Local Government and Aboriginal Community Councils and Organisations. In these industries ASU general industry awards cover the conditions of indigenous members in the same way they cover non-indigenous members. Some general industry awards cover particular Indigenous issues such as cultural leave.
There are other ASU Awards, which specifically cover employees of Aboriginal Organisations. For copies of these awards, please contact your ASU Branch:
Disclaimer: The awards above are provided as a guide only. For official award advice please contact your local ASU Branch. You can download the latest award version at the Fair Work Australia website "Find an award" page.
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The ASU supports the apology to indigenous Australians. We issued an ASU statement on the apology on February 13, 2008, outlining our position.
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The ASU is involved in the "Stolen Wages" campaign. We have lobbied governments to return properly earned indigenous wages they did not pass on during a period when those governments controlled the financial affairs of indigenous people.
For media reports on the stolen wages issue, click here for the latest Google News search results
Response from the ACTU Indigenous Committee, of which the ASU is a member, follows.
"You know, the whole aim here is not to condemn people for their problems. The whole aim is to support them, to get back on their feet again and to take charge of their own families again" Noel Pearson - 7.30 Report 19.06.07
No one could deny that there needed to be urgent action taken by the Federal Government on the issue of violence in Indigenous communities. The "Little Children are Sacred" report is the latest in a line of similar official reports, the first being by Professor Judy Atkinson in 1989 for the National Inquiry on Violence. These reports have been added to over the years by tomes of evidence, outlining the crisis occurring in Indigenous communities across Australia.
The announcement by John Howard on Friday 22nd June, 2007 has been seen by various commentators as 'long-overdue'; 'cynical'; 'a wedge'; 'the wrong approach'; 'the right approach'; 'punitive'; 'ill-conceived'; 'Tampa 2007'; 'Howard's rabbit' (in reference to his recent electoral annihilation comment that he had no rabbit o pull out of his hat), plus a number of other views too wide-ranging to summarise here.
Whatever the public commentary, there is no hiding the profound sense of urgency felt by the report's authors, and illustrated in words such as this:
"We have an enormous amount of knowledge and experience about the problems. It should now be applied. There is no more time for us to wring our collective hands. Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians have tended to despair about the difficulties instead of individually or collectively exercising some leadership. We are positively convinced that unless prompt and firm decisions are made and leadership shown at ALL levels of society, real disaster faces Australia within a generation" (Wild and Anderson, 2007, pp 6 & 7).
In reference to the Noel Pearson quote above, the question must be asked - how does this plan from the Howard Government support people to get back on their feet and take charge of their own families?
Read the full response here
From the ACTU's "A Short History of Australian Unions"
1965 ACTU files claims to remove the discriminatory clauses in the Federal and State awards relating to the employment of Aborigines.
- Pastoral Industry Award
- Station Hands Award
- Cattle Station Industry (NT) Award
1966 Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission hands down a decision to grant Aborigines on Northern Territory Cattle Stations equal pay with Europeans from 1st December 1968.
1967 A Federal referendum gives a massive "YES" vote for Aboriginal people to gain Australian citizenship and Federal control of Aboriginal affairs. Aborigines thereafter are to be included in the census.
Formal references: Cattle Station Industry (NT) Award (1966) CAR 651; Pastoral Industry Award (1967) 121 CAR 454, 457-458; Australian Workers' Union v Director, Department of Aboriginal and Islander Advancement 1979 AILR, paragraph 250.
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