CPSU Federal Office

The UK government published the Trade Union Bill in July and it contains wide-ranging measures designed to restrict the ability of union members to organise collectively and take industrial action.  These include thresholds for turnouts in strike ballots, restrictions on the right to picket and the removal of the ban on the use of agency workers to replace striking workers.  The government expects that the Second Reading of the Bill will take place in the House of Commons either in September or October 2015 after a short summer consultation which PSI considers insufficient to ensure the wid

CPSU resolved at its Federal Executive meeting in August to initiate a campaign for legislation to set limits around privatisation and to promote publicly owned and run services.  Public services are the foundation of a fair and just society. They extend opportunities, protect the vulnerable, and improve everyone’s quality of life. Public services strengthen our communities and bind us together as a society.  Our public services are under threat by state governments who want to contract-out their obligations to the highest bidder to make a profit.

Across Australia our respective branches are involved in the many challenges confronting state Education more now than at any other time in the last two decades.  Some of those challenges are system driven by either a state or federal Government policy initiative, or they are school based driven by poor decision making be either the Department or a School Principal.  Irrespective of the source, the subsequent impact these changes are having on our members and their communities are influencing the future for our schools.  On review of the various state campaigns, similar themes have emerged

Fiji is a Country evocative of tropical weather, palm trees, waves lapping against the beach, friendly locals and rugby union.  A paradise in the middle of the pacific – unless you happen to be a union worker.  The Fiji Government has produced the Employee Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015 (“ERB”) and in June 2015 Mark Perica, our Senior Legal Officer, was asked by the ACTU to attend before a Parliamentary Committee in Suva which was taking submissions on the Bill.  By way of a short political history, there was a military coup in 2006 which installed Rear Admiral Bainimarama.  The R

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced cuts to the federal government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme on Mothers’ Day.  New parents who are entitled to receive employer-funded primary carers leave payments will have their government-funded parental payments reduced or, in many cases, cut altogether.  Abbott’s poorly named ‘Fairer Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill’ will deny access to government-funded paid parental leave to 46% of Australian women.  Access to 26 weeks paid parental leave is advocated by the World Health Organisation as optimal for the health and well-being of mothers and babies

The largest ever leak of negotiating documents from the controversial Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) highlights the madness of secrecy and provides no comfort for users of public services.  Seventeen separate secret documents were released today including working papers and nine critical annexes on sensitive sectors such as financial services, postal services, maritime, domestic regulation, telecommunications, professional services, and labour migration.  The latest leaks highlight the cat and mouse game being played by the

The Executive Board of Public Services International (PSI) met on 27 and 28 May to assess progress over the past year and to decide on further priorities and activities.

The primary focus of CPSU's submission to the Federal Government's Inquiry into Workplace Relations being undertaken by the Productivity Commission is that bargaining against the Crown requires a unique arbitral solution to overcome stalemates for government employees.  The Public Service is a unique employer being legislator, regulator as well as employer.  Bargaining with the Crown requires

CPSU's submission to the Standing Committee on Health Inquiry into Hepatits C in Australia serves to explain the concerns and opposition to any proposal to introduce a needle and syringe exchange program into our prisons.  CPSU members in prisons occupy roles in a work environment unparallelled in respect to the risk of ocupational violence compared to any other across the country.  Our members accept this risk on a daily basis and do all they can to minimise it through effective case management and security strategies at a personal, operational and policy level.  They do so whilst juggling

Community Services caseworkers from across NSW walked off the job for an hour to highlight a staffing crisis that is preventing effective child protection in NSW.  The spontaneous action by PSA members follows the NSW Government’s outrageous claims in the Sunday Telegraph