Federal Council in Melbourne

  • 14 December 2017

Public services is about people and better communities not big corporations interested only in profits and shareholders so it was no surprise that tackling tax evasion and corporate greed, fighting for fair trade agreements, the ACTU's change the rules campaign, and privatisation, were all topics canvassed which made for a great day with many ideas generated and loads of enthusiasm at our recent Federal Council meeting in Melbourne.

Operating Report for 2017

  • 30 October 2017

The Federal Executive is pleased to present the Operating and Financial Report for 2017.   A large part of the work of the Federal Office has been assisting Branches with a myriad of obligations, case work and advice ranging from liaising with the FWC on Right of Entry permit obligations.  Development continued for 3 branches on the new upgraded membership data base due to go live in late November 2017.  Rule change cases were also undertaken for a number of Branches who sought to f

Taking Back Control

  • 20 October 2017

I want to talk about how members and delegates can get involved and take back control of the public debate about the value of quality Public Services and they role they play in our lives be that through the dignity of work or by providing the dignity of universal access to public services when in need.  Before we look at what we can do we need to take stock of what has happened to our services and what this has meant for real people who work in them or who need them.  A delegate once said to me, during a dispute over the privatisation of their jobs, why is that public serva

Thumbs Up by CSA Delegates to New 2-Year EA

  • 27 September 2017

A new two-year enterprise agreement (EA) covering Western Australia's 40,000 state public sector workers which provides preference for permanent employment over fixed term, casual, labour hire and contract for service engagement has received in-principle agreement from CPSU/CSA delegates.  The in-principle agreement provides a $1,000 pay rise effective from June 13, 2017, and a second $1,000 pay rise scheduled for June 13, 2018 as well as 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave, stronger redundancy and redeployment clauses and more transparency on the use of fixed term contracts and

Super Funds & Impact Investment: Speech

  • 28 August 2017

In the aftermath of the GFC, the traditional debt-financed model for infrastructure was hit through substantial increases in the cost of borrowing.  In response, governments have been looking to re-orient the financing model of infrastructure and social service delivery and looked for institutional investors, rather than using public finance.  So infrastructure policy, and increasingly public service and social policy, is framed around creating projects that will be of interest to investors, meaning that they focus on the areas of provision that are able to generate revenue which in turn ar

UK Employment Tribunal Fees Overturned

  • 26 July 2017

Employment tribunal fees will be scrapped after UNISON won a landmark court victory against the government this morning.  The Supreme Court – the UK’s highest court – has unanimously ruled that the government was acting unlawfully and unconstitutionally when it introduced the fees four years ago.  From today, anyone who has been treated illegally or unfairly at work will no longer have to pay to take their employers to court – as a direct result of UNISON’s legal challenge. 

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