Federal Budget Outcomes
The Labor Government’s 2024 Budget is a good budget for working people, with wages forecast to rise, commitments to pay increases in the care economy, cost-of-living support on top of the July 1 tax cuts, and a historic commitment to the jobs we need, including manufacturing jobs in Australia. Higher wages are the centrepiece of the Federal Budget with real wages going up by 4 percent for this financial year the same amount that they went up in total over the 10 years of the Coalition Government.
Paid Placement for our at Risk Children and FV Workers
The introduction of paid job placements for social workers by the Albanese Government is welcome. Social Workers play key roles in state and territory governments including staffing the Child Protection Services, Supporting Inmates and parolees from re-offending through programs, and monitoring in jail, youth detention centers, and offenders on parole placed in the community.
ACTU Statement on Gaza
The Australian Union movement is a movement of peace and respect for all races and nationalities. We oppose war, racism, and oppression. We act in solidarity. The Australian Union movement is horrified by the escalating violence and death toll of civilians in Gaza. The ACTU reiterates its statements and resolution of 19 October 2023 and 23 February 2024 and continues to call for an urgent and permanent ceasefire and the release of hostages and political prisoners.
Child protection system in crisis
There are too many children in need and not enough staff to provide support for them and the problem of protecting our vulnerable kids exists right across the country. Add in a failed experiment in offloading residential and foster care to non-government organisations (NGOs) and you have a pending disaster. Residential and/or Out Of Home Care has been outsourced to NGOs by governments over the past 20 years, resulting in the quality of services plummeting, teens in care being exploited, and the costs to run these services spiraling out of control.
Record Increases for new Collective Agreement Workers
Recently released data by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations for the December 2023 quarter shows that average pay rises for workers covered by new collective agreements reached 4.3 percent which is a 15-year high. The boost to workers’ incomes was fuelled by an increase in 227,000 more workers covered by collective agreements than a year earlier, with coverage reaching 2 million workers in total, or 16.7 percent of the workforce, up from 15.2 percent in December 2022.
Full-time jobs drive overall employment growth
The unemployment rate declined in February following a larger than usual number of people in December and January who had a job that they were waiting to start. The unemployment rate has been around 3 per cent in 20 of the last 21 months, rising to 4.1 per cent in January only because workers took time for holidays at the start of 2024 before starting new jobs in February.
Universal Super a Union Win for all Workers
The Australian Council of Trade Unions pays tribute to the union pioneers and architects of industry superannuation but especially the tens of thousands of building workers who campaigned for superannuation and in so doing so, created the beachhead that turned super into a universal right for all working Australians. This week marks 40 years since the ACTU’s historic decision to endorse the campaign of the Building Workers’ Industrial Union (BWIU) to establish a national superannuation scheme in the Australian building industry, a campaign that improved the nation forever.
Price gouging and unfair pricing practices
Former ACCC Chair Professor Allan Fels handed down his wide-ranging report this month into price gouging and unfair pricing practices. The Report revealed what many had long suspected, that big business, in the form of banks, electricity companies, supermarkets and a host of others have been using their market dominance and a host of dodgy practices to push up prices during a cost-of-living crisis.
The report made 35 key recommendations.
IR Loopholes Closed
The Closing Loopholes No 2 legislation has passed parliament, after the House accepted amendments made in the Senate. The original Loopholes Bill went to an inquiry last year that continued beyond the splitting of the Bill and the first tranche's passage through parliament. The Senate split the Loopholes Bill last year, and passed a significant portion of the measures in the original legislation before Christmas. This left the No 2 Bill to be dealt with this year.
The CL No. 2 Bill's passage through Parliament will: