Rights at Work

Eric Abetz has confirmed today that an Abbott Government will try to stop workers getting pay rises above inflation unless they give up conditions. ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said Mr Abetz's comments in The Australian this morning that the Coalition would demand "excessive" wage rises include productivity reforms should ring…

Business is gearing up for a post-election push to reshape Australia's industrial relations landscape if the Coalition wins office: weakening unfair dismissal protections, cutting penalty rates and trading off conditions under the guise of 'flexibility', the ACTU said. Tony Abbott has today admitted there would be "all sorts of changes"…

Australia can only achieve prosperity, competitiveness and fairness in the 21st century with stronger climate policies that improve carbon and energy productivity, said an alliance of social, union, environment and research organisations today, releasing a policy platform Productivity, Fairness and Sustainable Climate Action. The Southern Cross Climate Coalition, which comprises…

Tony Abbott must rule out changes to penalty rates following revelations his IR spokesman, Eric Abetz, has been secretly meeting with big business groups running a campaign to strip penalty rates from hundreds of thousands of workers. ACTU National Secretary Dave Oliver said Tony Abbott needed to guarantee a future…

Tony Abbott's plans for small business will only be fully unveiled after the election when the Coalition reviews the Fair Work Act to pave the way for cuts to penalty rates, overtime and unfair dismissal protections, the ACTU said today. The policy on red tape and competition laws announced today…

Australian workers are worried about paying their bills and keeping their jobs as they head into the federal election, the biggest ever survey of union members has found. The ACTU has undertaken a record 102,000 telephone surveys of workers across a range of industries including nurses, construction workers, public servants,…

The ASU is concerned to have read in this week’s media reports that Abbott is planning to fund his controversial paid parental leave scheme by excluding public sector workers, including local government employees, from it. In effect, council workers, teachers and nurses, amongst many others, would lose out in order…

ACTU president Ged Kearney joins workers at People's Day at the Exhibition in Brisbane today to urge the Coalition to stop siding only with business on penalty rates - there are two sides to the story. Ms Kearney said the multi-billion dollar attack on people's wages would not only be…

The ACTU and ASU urges young people feeling disenfranchised by federal politics to think about what's at stake for them this election. "If you're not going to vote for anything else, vote for your penalty rates," ACTU president Ged Kearney said. The close of rolls deadline for the 2013 federal…

ACTU President Ged Kearney will launch her election tour today by visiting Liverpool Hospital to speak with health workers and then later will join young workers gathering at Parramatta Train Station as part of the Penalty Rates Day of Action. "Tony Abbott and the Coalition must come clean to the…