UnionsACT has today called on ACT employers to waive requirements for sick certificates for employees during the coronavirus crisis. Most employers require employees to provide a sick certificate from a doctor or pharmacist if they are sick for even a single day. During this public health emergency, this requirement (which was already unnecessary and wasteful) …
Employers must waive sick certificate requirements Read More »
UnionsACT has today called on the ACT Government to ensure any stimulus payments to businesses come with job security guarantees for working Canberrans. Past experience in Australia and overseas during financial shocks shows the central importance of protecting job security in order to reduce the length and severity of economic downturns. Without a requirement to …
ACT Govt Stimulus must come with guarantees for workers Read More »
UnionsACT has today called on the ACT Government to implement urgent reforms that would protect Canberrans from rent increases and evictions during the COVID-19 crisis. In the past week, UnionsACT has been contacted by numerous casual workers, and retired workers on fixed incomes from superannuation, concerned about evictions during the crisis. Casual workers who are …
UnionsACT calls for protections for renters during coronavirus crisis Read More »
UnionsACT supports calls for casual employees to receive sick-leave entitlements to ensure that working people in Canberra don’t pay the price for doing the right thing and self-isolating due to coronavirus. There are approximately 65,000 workers in the ACT (and 3.3 million across Australia) with no sick leave entitlements (i.e. casual, contract, labour hire/temp). Insecure, …
UnionsACT supports calls for sick-leave entitlements for casuals in face of coronavirus Read More »
The secretary of UnionsACT, Alex White, stepped down as leader of the peak union council on Thursday 20 February. Alex White was elected in November 2014, and for five years has led a revitalised UnionsACT that has focused on championing workers’ rights, improving safety and tackling the wage-theft crisis. During the past five years, UnionsACT …
UnionsACT today welcomed the introduction of the ACT labour hire licensing scheme. The scheme would align the ACT with the successful Victorian and Queensland schemes. Under the scheme, labour hire companies would need to demonstrate past and ongoing compliance with workplace laws to become licensed. Some of Australia’s worst labour abuses in recent years have …
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Young workers in Canberra, supported by UnionsACT, will take to the streets for a Summer Patrol on Monday 24 February to raise awareness about wage-theft, sexual harassment at work and safety in the hospitality industry. The Summer Patrol is a new program from the Young Workers Centre to tackle the wage-theft crisis impacting young workers …
Young workers to hold Summer Patrol on Wage-theft Read More »
UnionsACT has today released a report into the WHS and workplace rights impacts on workers of the bushfire smoke between 1 December 2019 and 31 January 2020. The report shows that: Lost income for workers due to the smoke exceeds $6 million, with over 18,000 Canberran workers losing at least one days income; More than …
New Report: $6m+ cost to workers due to bushfire smoke Read More »
UnionsACT surveyed over 960 Canberran workers, who were exposed to the bushfire smoke during December 2019 and January 2020. This research demonstrates that a large proportion of working people were exposed to hazardous, toxic levels of smoke, and that many employers failed in their legal obligations to keep workers safe. The results also demonstrate the …
Hard to Breathe: Canberran workers’ rights, WHS and smoke Read More »
UnionsACT acknowledges that it works on the land of the Ngunnawal people, and we pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.
Authorised M Harrison for UnionsACT, 11 London Circuit, Canberra.