General

Sign up to Your OHS Rights at Work

By the ASU - defending your health and safety at work

The Federal Government and all state and territory governments have agreed to move towards a simpler approach to occupational health and safety (OHS) laws in Australia. This is to be achieved through harmonisation, i.e. through the creation of a uniform set of laws. Please sign the petition to ensure your OHS rights are protected in the new laws.

STOP PRESS

The petition deadline has been extended until later this year. Please sign the petition now and encourage your friends and family to do the same - click on the links below or the image to the right.

The ASU supports harmonisation to increase the rights of all workers and to promote the best OHS law that exists now at the state/territory level.

A three person panel has been created by the Federal Government to review current OHS law through public consultations. The unions will be appearing before the panel on August 19 and presenting a petition.

Now is the time to have your say about what model OHS law should look like by signing the petition in support of the Charter of Workplace Rights.

The ASU supports and has contributed to the ACTU Charter of Workplace Rights and the submission to the Review.

The ASU rejects the employers push to reduce current OHS standards through:

• No union involvement in OHS
• Minimum legislative and OHS standards
• Prosecution as a last resort and no industrial manslaughter
• That profitability and costs should dictate the appropriate level of OHS required by a company and workers are equally if not more responsible for their safety than employers.

The ASU, along with the ACTU and all other unions, is promoting a "rights" based approach to OHS which means that workers should have:

• A RIGHT TO a safe and healthy working environment
• A RIGHT TO KNOW what hazards they are exposed to
• A RIGHT TO REFUSE unsafe work.
• A RIGHT TO BE INVOLVED in and negotiate how hazards are identified, assessed, eliminated or controlled, monitored and reviewed at work.
• A RIGHT TO ACT to protect and advance their health and safety at work including determining who represents then and participate in activities that will increase their rights at work in relation to OHS.

The Union Charter of Workplace Rights launched by the ACTU in 2007 has already been signed by thousands of workers.

SIGN THE PETITION TO PROTECT YOUR OHS RIGHTS AT WORK

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