CPSU Federal Office

After a successful campaign by the Union movement, the Federal Parliament passed a watered-down Omnibus Bill but unfortunately further entrenched Casual Employment. The Senate passed the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 (the Omnibus Bill) with a number of significant amendments that removed Schedules 2 to 6 from the Bill.  This means that the following proposed changes did not form part of the Bill which was approved by the Senate:

Next week the Senate will vote on whether or not to pass the Morrison Government’s anti-worker laws.  These extreme laws would allow big business and employers to reduce job security and cut wages for millions of workers.  We all need to make sure that every Australian knows about this attempt to punish workers. Last year, politicians like Scott Morrison, and big business executives went around the country declaring that workers were “heroes” for saving Australia from the pandemic.

Federal Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter introduced the Industrial Relations (IR) Omnibus bill just before Christmas which will clearly enhance the power of employers to hire workers on a just-in-time basis, suppress wages, and undermine terms and conditions of employment.  The Coalition Government's proposed changes will accelerate the incidence of insecure work, undermine genuine collective bargaining, and suppress wages growth.  Impacts will be felt across the entire workforce - casual and permanent workers alike.

The superannuation guarantee is set to increase in July this year from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent for Australian workers however the federal government is exploring alternatives to alter or further delay the legislated increases.  The original timetable has already been delayed since July 2014 when former prime minister Tony Abbott promised at the time a freeze would produce stronger wages, but wage growth immediately slowed.  Increasing the super guarantee to 12 per cent was a Coalition and Labor election commitment in 2019 with the 9.5 per cent guarantee scheduled to rise to 12 per cent

The COVID-19 pandemic has brutally exposed the weaknesses in our current model of globalisation and neoliberal economics.  In countries across the world, people have been left asking: how could we have been so exposed and unprepared?  How is it possible that after years of booming stock markets and technological advances, many wealthy countries have struggled to keep their older members of society safe, their economies running, and their health services from collapsing?

The audited financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2020 include a review of principal activities during the last financial year.

Here’s how.  Public Services International has produced an eight-part briefing series on tax. These briefs help ensure unions and workers have all the facts and arguments they need to win a fairer tax system.

The Federal Government is drafting workplace reforms after COVID-19 has affected business and the economy and the ACTU is raising concerns that the Government focus will be to withdraw worker protections and listen to employer groups who want to cut pay and conditions.  Sally McManus has said there are “concerning signs” the government is poised to side with employer groups calling for industrial relations reforms that would cut take-home pay.  The ACTU is now urging the industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, not to jeopardise Australia’s recovery from the Covid-19 recession by ha

The Federal Government have delivered a budget which will leave workers behind and fails the jobs test by not saving existing jobs or creating secure new jobs nor ensuring the recovery is fairly shared. The budget projects high unemployment and stagnant wages for the foreseeable future despite 1 million Australians out of work now and another 1.5 million looking for more work. The Government has centred this budget around tax cuts which benefit wealthier Australians as well as tax handouts to corporations with cash to spare.

Striking new polling data from seven leading countries shows overwhelming public support for policymakers to crack down on companies using tax havens. The polling, conducted in the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK, shows unmatched levels of support ranging from 87 per cent to 95 per cent. Participants were asked their views on measures to tie public funds used to bail out companies during the coronavirus pandemic to their record on paying tax, and ending the use of tax havens.