selling off our poles and wires means NSW has Nothing to gain, plenty to lose

Earlier this year, the Premier announced he’s seeking a mandate at the March 2015 state election for his plan to privatise NSW electricity. But this week, anew report was released that drives a stake through the heart of Mike Baird’s plan to sell off our — the public’s — poles and wires.

The independent McKell Institute (which Mike Baird has said has a “proud history” and whose work “we need to do more of") looked into the government’s privatisation plan and the report title sums up their conclusions nicely: selling off our poles and wires means NSW has Nothing to gain, plenty to lose. In short, if Mike Baird wins the election, NSW loses.

Add your name to the petition now and tell Mike Baird to stop the sell-off:http://stoptheselloff.org.au/sign-the-petition

The McKell Institute analysis concluded there’s “no logical case for privatisation” backed up by a number of findings:

• The state currently earns $1.7 billion each year from NSW electricity Transmission and Distribution, and selling our poles and wires is likely to hurt the state budget over the medium-to-long-term
• NSW’s public electricity assets operate more efficiently than those privatised in other states
• Selling off poles and wires doesn’t cut costs for business and would actually increase costs for us — consumers — by more than $100 per year
• Rather than reinvesting revenue from electricity into improving the system, privatisation would mean revenues would line the pockets of investors, whereas state assets focus on the citizens they serve

With so much evidence exposing the Baird government’s disinformation, the report “recommends that the NSW Government abandon its plans to privatise.” That’s exactly what those who know the industry best and look after our electricity assets — the Electrical Trades Union — have been saying for months and why they’ve launched the “Stop the Sell Off” campaign.

Add your name to more than one thousand concerned citizens who’ve signed the petition, and together, we can make sure Mike Baird has no mandate to sell off our poles and wires and instead keep jobs safe, prices low, and ensure public assets continue serving the citizens of this great state, rather than lining the pockets of big business.

In Union,

Mark Lennon

Secretary

Unions NSW

UNIVERSITY STAFF CONDEMN VICE-CHANCELLORS’ CALL FOR FEE-DEREGULATION

UNIVERSITY STAFF CONDEMN VICE-CHANCELLORS’ CALL FOR FEE-DEREGULATION

University staff are urging cross-bench senators to maintain their opposition to fee

deregulation, in the wake of a renewed call from Vice-Chancellors for an amended

version of the bill to be passed in the next fortnight.

Vice-Chancellors’ enthusiasm for deregulated university fees ignores the

overwhelming opposition not only of the public, but of university staff, says the

National Alliance for Public Universities (NAPU).

NAPU was formed in October to give university staff committed to a public university

system another voice to oppose fee deregulation.

The NAPU charter outlining the principles of a public higher education sector has

been signed by over 1300 university staff members from around the country,

including Nobel Prize Winner J.M. Coetzee, University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor

Stephen Parker and over 100 senior professors.

“There are fewer than forty Vice Chancellors in Australia. They don’t represent the

tens of thousands of university staff, who, like the rest of the public, are strongly

against deregulation,” said NAPU spokesperson Dr Nick Riemer. “Vice Chancellors

should be lobbying government to fund universities better, not advising them on

what level of cuts is acceptable.”

“We are very encouraged by Jacqui Lambie’s statement that she will never support

deregulation,” Riemer continued, “and we call on all the other cross-benchers to

give similar undertakings. There is nothing fair about deregulation. A Fairfax-Ipsos

poll at the start of November found overwhelming public opposition to the

government’s plans. Vice-Chancellors are out of step both with the public, and with

basic principles of equity and social justice.”

More information:

Dr Nick Riemer 0481 339 937; Dr George Morgan 0414 958726.

http://napuaustralia.org.

Greens bill to save TAFE defeated by Baird-Grant government

A Charter for Australia’s Universities

AN ‘UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK’ ON WORKERS’ RIGHTS

"Do these charges set a new precedent; will it be deemed unlawful in the future for unionists or community members to attend a political protest? This issue goes to the very heart of our democracy and the right to free speech."

For the full story click here.

ANTI-PRIVATISATION PETITION RALLY, SYDNEY 13TH NOVEMBER 2014

Why Australian workplaces need much better leaders

By Peter Gahan, University of Melbourne

Over the last decade, Australia has experienced a productivity slump. Our long-term productivity growth ranks well below the OECD average, and significantly below that enjoyed by leading economies.
However, the reality of falling productivity and its consequences has been masked for most ordinary Australians by the mining boom, which has created created jobs and driven up wages.
A number of international studies have suggested that in many workplaces the quality of leadership and management skills can have significant direct effects on productivity, as well as indirect effects through their consequences for how workplaces adapt to changing business conditions and innovate.
A similar picture is now emerging in Australia. This gap is evident in official data on the ability of Australian business to introduce technological innovations, new products or services, or new management systems or organisational innovations. Among SMEs and in certain industries, the record is even more dismal.
Research on the take-up of high-performance management practices also indicates a paradox: while the types of practices that lead to better performance are well established, few workplaces adopt them.

Are Australians bad managers?

Why do Australian businesses have such a dismal record in improving the very things that drive workplace productivity? There are many reasons, but the quality of management and leadership in the workplace is a critical one.
It is clear, for example, that many Australian managers are seriously underqualified for the job they do. Australian Bureau of Statistics data on the qualifications of different occupation groups show that fewer managers have post-school qualifications than do the unskilled and semi-skilled workers they manage.
This is alarming at a time when the challenges of businesses are become more complex. This qualifications gap among our managers is particular acute among small and medium-sized businesses. Clearly, we need to invest more in training managers.
The Centre for Workplace Leadership at the University of Melbourne has begun to track employee perceptions of management and leadership in Australian workplaces.
Our initial survey findings, released today, present a stark picture. A staggering 75% of employees surveyed report that Australian workplaces need better managers and leaders. Perhaps a concerning indicator of future problems is the fact that this view is held by a majority of young people.
We are entering a period marked by the emergence of new, disruptive challenges for business. These challenges are set to undermine the competitiveness of Australian business, and cannot be met by providing businesses with tax breaks or subsidies to continue to operate at a loss.

Meeting new business challenges

The leadership gap goes well beyond formal qualifications. Recent survey evidence shows that many managers and leaders lack a number of critical technical and people skills. That undermines their capacity to maximise productivity.
Among the more significant is an inability to develop a strategic perspective that allows the business to read disruptive changes in markets, identify new opportunities and to adapt.
The flow-on effects are numerous, but inevitably a key one concerns the absence of the skills necessary to manage people, drive continuous improvement and effectively manage change. These challenges are also associated with under-developed and under-resourced HR systems.
This problem typically reflects a lack of knowledge of workplace issues other than in a reactive way. Again, the evidence on these matters shows that these challenges are most acutely felt by managers in SMEs.

Managing the future

It is now 20 years since the Karpin Report was released. This ground-breaking report, entitled Enterprising Nation, identified a number of critical challenges facing Australian managers as Australia entered the “Asian century”. It is time to take stock of these new challenges and the ability of Australia’s business leaders and managers to meet them.
The challenge here will be how government can induce business owners to take steps themselves. In particular, we need to think how we can address the challenge of improving management capability and leadership in SMEs.
These are the very businesses we are increasingly reliant on to generate employment, bring new ideas and products to the market and drive growth in the economy, but with the most limited resources to tackle the problem. Leadership and management skills will be crucial to meeting the challenge.

Peter Gahan receives research funding from the Australian Research Council. He is Director for the Centre for Workplace Leadership, which has been co-funded by the Commonwealth Government and The University of Melbourne.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Stop Medicare Privatisation

http://www.cpsu.org.au/campaigns/stop-medicare-sell-off

NATSEM: UWA model would lift uni debt for women, disadvantaged

By Ben Phillips, University of Canberra and Stephen Parker, University of Canberra

The University of Western Australia recently announced its proposed post-deregulation price structure. UWA’s new fee is a flat fee of A$16,000 per year for undergraduate courses, which is significantly higher than existing fees.
UWA is the first university in Australia to provide guidance on actual fee increases. NATSEM has modelled what these fee increases would mean for students if such fees were to become standard across Australian universities.
Shortly after the announcement of the Coalition’s policy, NATSEM modelled a range of pricing scenarios at the University of Canberra. These scenarios included “cost recovery” and a number of larger price-increase scenarios up to 50% beyond cost recovery. Underlying the modelling was the future income graduates could expect to earn through their career and a new higher interest rate (Treasury bond rate) applied to student debt.
The previous NATSEM modelling focused on a selection of University of Canberra courses – nursing, teaching, business and science. The UWA fee structure would represent a significant increase in the cost of studying all these courses, particularly nursing and teaching (roughly A$10,000 more each year). Business and science would increase in cost by around A$6,000 and A$7,000 per year.
Like our previous work, the UWA prices impact lower-pay graduate occupations such as nursing and education. For all courses the impacts are larger for females due to their lower wages and hours worked compared to males. For some degrees with high postgraduate incomes the impact is more modest.
The typical repayment period for a four-year teaching-trained female graduate would increase from an expected 9.2 years (8.8 for males) to 26.5 years (17.7 for males). For a female graduate the total repayments more than quadruple from around A$32,000 to A$143,000.
For nursing graduates, the repayment period for a three-year course would increase from 8.3 years to 24.3 years for a female (7.9 to 15.5 for a male). Increases in repayment periods and total dollar repayments are not quite as significant for science or business graduates.

Author provided

A further implication for (mostly) female students will be that under such a pricing structure their repayments for popular courses such as nursing and teaching will mean they will still be paying off their degrees well into their forties rather than completing repayments at around 30. For many women the extra repayments will compound the already very high effective tax rates that they face from the combined impact of personal income taxation, child-care costs and the loss of government benefits as they return to work after having children.
The recent AMP.NATSEM report Child Care Affordability in Australia estimated that in transitioning back to a full-time job the typical woman only keeps around 40 cents in the dollar of her gross wage. Continuing to pay off a university debt while juggling work with children will push this down by up to a further 8 cents in the dollar, making work less financially attractive.
In spite of the likelihood of large fee increases and longer repayment times, the payoff from university degrees should be expected to remain higher than the costs for many graduates. However, for women in lower-paid careers such as nursing and teaching, particularly where the mother is a single parent or takes long breaks from full-time employment, the benefits of a university education are likely to be severely diminished from a purely financial perspective.
UWA does not provide teaching or nursing undergraduate courses; these fields are offered through postgraduate studies. Given the lower income profiles of nursing and teaching compared to other fields of study (around 10 to 15%), it is quite likely that such courses would never be paid off. By the end of a five-year study period (undergraduate plus masters) the student will have an accumulated debt approaching A$100,000. For relatively low -paid nursing and teaching graduates this debt will likely continue to grow for many years since the interest on that debt will outpace legislated HELP repayments.
Setting fees as high as A$16,000 per year will mean that debt will take many more years to pay off. Groups most likely to be impacted by these fee increases with significantly larger debts and repayment periods (possibly never repaying) include women in lower-paid professions such as nursing and teaching, those undertaking postgraduate studies, parents working part-time while raising children, and mature-age students.

Stephen Parker is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, which will be affected by changes to higher education.
Ben Phillips does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

World Day for Decent Work. Make the Thunderclap work

To help raise awareness of the problem of precarious work, IndustriALL Global Union has launched a Thunderclap for the World Day for Decent Work on 7 October.

A Thunder-what?

I'm guessing you've never heard of Thunderclap, so here's the official explanation:

"Thunderclap is the first-ever crowdspeaking platform that helps people be heard by saying something together. It allows a single message to be mass-shared, flash mob-style, so it rises above the noise of your social networks. By boosting the signal at the same time, Thunderclap helps a single person create action and change like never before."

Is that clear?  Maybe not.  Thunderclap allows us to allow send out the same message on the same day and at the same time, automatically, to our friends and followers on social networks including Facebook and Twitter.

IndustriALL Global Union wants trade unionists and trade unions to sign up to their Thunderclap message on precarious work.  The message is due to go out on 7 October, the World Day for Decent Work.

Their message reads:

"STOP Precarious Work! Defend your rights to a secure job. Join the global action on 7 October".

You can support this campaign by clicking here:



( Don't see a link? Click on this: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/16472-stop-precarious-work )

If you've never done this sort of thing before, you'll see that you need to be logged into Facebook, Twitter  or Tumblr (ideally, all three).  And you'll need to give the Thunderclap app permission to send out the IndustriALL message to your friends and followers at a specified day and time.  

IndustriALL needs at least 250 of us to agree to go along with this.  Otherwise, the Thunderclap won't happen.

Among those who've already signed up are the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Trades Union Congress (UK), and LabourStart.  

I've signed up and I hope you will too.  Thank you.


Eric Lee

Whatever the name - Goverment agenda is anti-worker ACTU

Abbott and the Federal goverment want unfair individual contracts

Tony Abbott is trying to rush through laws that introduce new unfair individual contracts that cut take home pay, give more power to employers in bargaining and make it harder for workers to access their union. But to do all this he needs the crucial votes of at least six cross-bench senators.
We can stop Abbott’s attack dead in its tracks if just three cross-bench senators vote against the bill. It looks like the vote will take place this Wednesday so we need to act fast and we need everyone to play their part.Click here to ask the cross-bench senators to vote against Tony Abbott’s unfair anti-worker amendments: http://www.australianunions.org.au/stop_tony_abbotts_anti_worker_lawsTony Abbott’s new laws bring back some of the worst parts of Workchoices. Among other things, the bill:

• Reintroduces unfair individual contracts that can cut take home pay including weekend and penalty rates

• Gives employers a veto over industrial action.

• Allows employers to not pay-out some annual leave if you’re sacked or leave a job.

• Gives mining and construction employers a special deal that allows them to write their own Enterprise Agreements.

• Reduces the rights of workers to talk to their union at work if they need help.

These laws are part of the Abbott attack on the Australian way of life. Let’s make sure that the cross-bench senators know this.
Click here and ask the senators to vote against Tony Abbott’s horrible laws: http://www.australianunions.org.au/stop_tony_abbotts_anti_worker_lawsWe’ve shown before that by standing together we can help put the brakes on Tony Abbott’s radical and unfair agenda. It is going to take a big effort to knock off these laws but, together, I think we have it in us.
Let’s get one over Tony Abbott and his radical anti-worker agenda.

Now more than ever it is vital for UTS Professional staff to join together to stand up for your rights, if you are not already a member join today (https://membership.psa.asn.au/join/)

Vote 1 Mark Christopher for University of Technology Council

August 20th 2014 Student Rally against the Budget

Save Sydney University Libraries Rally Fisher Library on Wednesday 13 August at 1pm.

University of Sydney Fisher Library on Wednesday 13 August at 1pm.

Managing Change via stealth at UTS, Workplace Meeting

EB 7: Open Letter to CPSU UTS Professional Staff

 Now more than ever it is vital for UTS Professional staff to join together to stand up for your rights, if you are not already a member join today https://membership.psa.asn.au/join/

UTS Professional Staff Agreement 2014 negotiations update

Dear CPSU members

A meeting was held today to update members on negotiations for the UTS Professional Staff Agreement 2014.

Members were briefed on the current position of enterprise bargaining by the bargaining team and PSA/CPSU Director of Industrial Andrew Holland.

At the conclusion of the meeting CPSU members moved and passed the following motion:

"This meeting of CPSU UTS Branch members congratulate the CPSU UTS bargaining team for shifting the University to where we have an acceptable offer on the table for professional staff. The meeting empowers the bargaining team to endorse the final draft as long as it contains all agreed changes."

After the bargaining team is satisfied that the final document includes all agreed changes, we expect the university will put the agreement to ballot. The final agreement needs to be made available to all staff covered by it for a period of 7 days before voting can commence. This is to allow staff time to read the document and to seek clarification/advice on anything they are unsure of.

The CPSU bargaining team would like to thank members for their input and patience during the bargaining process.

 

Yours in Union,

Rosa Bow

Branch President

CPSU EB7 Negotiator

Ask your work colleagues to join the CPSU today at https://membership.psa.asn.au/join/ 

PSA Member Support Centre ~ Your first port of call when you have an industrial or work/life issue.
PSA ~ Working harder for members
Call 1300 PSA NSW (1300 772 679)

###################################################################################

Attention: This document and any following pages may contain personal information and is intended solely for the named addressee. It is confidential and may be subject to legal or other professional privilege.

Views or opinions contained in this document are those of the individual sender and are not necessarily the opinions of the Public Service Association of New South Wales / CPSU. Any confidentiality or privilege is not waived or lost because this document has been sent to you by mistake. The copying or distribution of this document or any information in it by anyone other than the addressee, is prohibited. If you have received this document in error please let the sender know by telephone (02 9220 0900) and then destroy the email and attachments. Any personal information in this document must be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988(Cth).

Australia faces a “debt crisis”

As the old saying goes: “if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth”.

Since unveiling their budget two months ago, Tony Abbott and his mate Joe Hockey, have been claiming that Australia faces a “debt crisis” in an attempt to  justify their harsh cuts to education, health and the larger social safety net that working people, through our unions, have fought so hard to secure. Here in NSW, the Liberal Government are also using similar lines to threaten our jobs, rights and services.  The problem is, their fear campaign doesn’t match the facts.

The truth is, the Liberal and National State and Federal Governments are so far off the mark, even when they cozy up to big business, leading Australian economists have recently publicly rejected the notion that Australia has a "debt crisis'', with one expert even saying it was an abuse of the language to apply the term to Australia! In other words: “Debt crisis? What debt crisis?!”¹

So while the PM and Premier Mike Baird might believe they can sell ice to an eskimo, the community isn’t buying their “budget crisis” lies. Click on the image below to share with your Facebook friends and help Bust the Budget myths!



Sadly, the Liberal lies don’t stop there. They claim our deficit is too high, when in fact our deficit is a mere 1.2% of GDP - a quarter of the advanced country average. They claim that taxes are too high and spending is “out of control,” when Australia is the 4th lowest among OECD countries on both counts.²

The truth is, the Abbott Government lied their way into office on a trail of broken promises,  and now they continue lying to mask their true intentions: using the budget as a way to promote policies that would lead to an American-style system in which average Australians are priced out of educational opportunities, families have to pay for privatised healthcare, and business interests and profits margins have priority -- rather than what’s best for our community.

Don’t let them get away with it. Expose the Liberals’ lies: help get the truth out on twitter and Bust the Budget myths by sharing with your Facebook friends.

I’ll be quite frank. As a union leader, you won’t often catch me quoting John Howard, but recently the former PM made a pretty sensible observation, noting the Australian people “will respond to an argument for change and reform [but] they want two requirements. They want to be satisfied it's in the national interest, because they have a deep sense of nationalism and patriotism. They also want to be satisfied it's fundamentally fair.”

This budget doesn’t even pass the Howard test, and the Liberal party’s lines don’t pass the truth test.

“If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth.” Abbott and Hockey keep repeating their “budget crisis” lies; it’s up to us, budget busters, to fight fear with facts and make sure their tall tales don’t become accepted as truth.

In Solidarity,

Mark Lennon
Secretary
UnionsNSW

¹"Economists reject Abbott crisis claims" Sydney Morning Herald; 12 July 2014
²“Myth busting the Commission of Audit” The Australia Institute; 2014

University of Sydney Convocation, on deregulation

As you know, this year’s federal budget included major changes to higher education that will affect how governments fund universities and how universities levy fees. In a word: deregulation.

The Government’s plans for higher education will be decided soon by parliament. If they pass, there will be less public funding available per student, and universities will be able to determine their own fees.

“Demand-driven” education is the American model – something that Nobel Prize-winning US economist Joe Stiglitz warned against. It will have serious effects, especially for students from low- and middle-income backgrounds.

Several fellows of the University of Sydney’s Senate – including Catriona Menzies-Pike, Verity Firth and Andrew West, elected by the alumni, and Patrick Massarani, elected by the undergraduates – are petitioning for a meeting of Convocation so deregulation can be debated thoroughly by the University community.

Convocation comprises all graduates and academic members. It is entirely within the by-laws and processes of the University and, as befits the seriousness of the issue and the status of the University, it is a solemn and respectful ceremony. There has not been such a meeting for 60 years. It will be a historic opportunity for staff and alumni to express their views to the Senate, the University administration and the nation’s parliament.

If the Chancellor agrees to convene Convocation, academic staff and alumni will gather on campus to debate the following motion:

That Convocation expresses its concern at the federal government’s proposed changes to higher education. We request the federal government restore the higher education funding cut in the 2014 budget. We further ask that the University of Sydney refrain from supporting fee deregulation, which will prevent or discourage potential students from seeking admission to the University because of an inability to meet or repay tuition costs.

If you are a University of Sydney graduate member or academic staff member, we invite you to print off and sign this letter to the Chancellor.

If you know of other University of Sydney graduates, please forward it on, distributing this email as widely as you can.

Please return the signatures by 25 July at the latest by mailing hard copies to GPO Box 3365, Sydney NSW 2001, or fax to 02 9262 1623 or email a scan to cpsu@psa.asn.au and we will work with the Sydney University PSA/CPSU members with organising the Convocation.

Authorised by Andrew Holland, Acting Assistant General Secretary, Public Service Association of NSW, 160 Clarence St Sydney 2000

CPSU EB7 information meeting, 10 June

EB7 Information Meeting for CPSU Members at UTS

An EB7 information meeting for CPSU members at UTS will be held on Tuesday 10 June 2014 from 12.30 to 1.30pm. Your CPSU EB7 negotiators are now in receipt of a "Without Prejudice" Offer from UTS that now requires feedback from the membership.

Date: Tuesday 10 June
Time: 12.30 to 1.30pm
Venue: CB04.02.31 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Yours in Union,
Mark Christopher, Rosa Bow and Greg Hampshire
CPSU EB7 Bargaining Team
Community and Public Sector Union

Super Unfair (via Unions NSW) Sign the petition!

Super Unfair

The Abbott Government has announced the following changes to the taxation of superannuation:

1. Increase the tax on superannuation paid by workers earning less than $37,000 from 0% to 15%
2. Reduce the tax on superannuation paid by workers who earn over $300,000 from 30% to 15%

In effect Tony Abbott is taking from the lower paid workers, and giving to the higher paid workers.

The changes undo reforms introduced by the Labor Government to boost the retirement savings of low paid workers while ensuring the country’s top earners pay their fair share of tax.

Let Tony Abbott Know you won’t stand for this, Sign our Petition.Print out this paper petition and get your colleges to sign it.
Check out this handy info graphic for a quick over view of of the changes, or read on for a more detailed analysis.

Tracking The Damage

Unions NSW

The NSW Liberals have been in power since 26 March 2011. From that point, his Government has cut jobs, rights and services and governed for insurance companies and the big end of town.

This page monitors the record of the O’Farrell-Baird Government. It will be regularly updated. Most items have a link to a source for more information.

If we’ve missed something that’s happened in your local community, Email us by clicking here.

This page is based on Tracking Abbot’s Wreckage, a blog by ASU Secretary, Sally McManus. Check it out here.

ACTU Submission Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Bill 11 April 2014

Introduction

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) supports trade integration that contributes to

sustainable economies where workers are employed in decent and secure jobs. Intensified

competition and unfettered capital mobility may lead to economic growth but it can also exacerbate

inequality, social exclusion and environmental degradation. It is essential that the space for domestic

policy making is maintained so the negative impacts of trade liberalisation and unequal economic

growth can be anticipated and addressed. Domestic policy must also play a role in supporting a more

equitable distribution of the benefits of trade liberalisation and growth more broadly. The role of

government and democratic decision-making in introducing legislation and overseeing policy in the

interest of workers and communities is central to this.

UNION TAKES ACTION ON 'DRACONIAN' SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

APR 09, 2014

The Community and Public Sector Union has lodged an industrial dispute with the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet over its new social media policy.

The policy punishes workers who post critical comments about the government on social media and forces colleagues to report co-workers for such activity.

The Department’s failure to consult staff and unions over the changes is a clear breach of its enterprise agreement, the union says.

CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said: “Encouraging people to dob in a workmate is a new and nasty feature and one that we think is entirely unnecessary to police the use of social media by public servants. Forcing people to spy on their colleagues is incredibly divisive and will only sow the seeds of mistrust in the workforce,” Ms Flood added.

The CPSU was involved in initial consultations over the new policy, which is based largely on 2012 Public Service Commission guidelines, however the ‘dob in a mate’ clause was not in the draft shown to the union.

Ms Flood said: “We have had many members contact us to express their anger and frustration at what can only be described as a draconian policy. Furthermore we’d question whether there’s any evidence it is justified. What is the problem this policy is trying to fix? This is the Australian Public Service we are talking about not a police state.”

“We believe public sector workers should have the same rights as other Australians to engage in online debate, particularly when it’s in their own time and they don’t identify themselves as a government worker. This policy could mean that a public servant could be in breach of the rules if they attended a political rally and their picture is then shared on social media. That is not fair.” In the past the CPSU has been critical of the APSC policy because it over-reaches in seeking to limit what public servants do online privately, particularly where they are not identified as public servants.

However, Ms Flood added: “At the same time people need to be mindful of not being identified as public servants in comment critical of the Government of the day and of their responsibility as public servants as set out in the APS code of Conduct. We have said before that this is an evolving space and employers and Governments need to provide better, clearer guidelines. This policy does nothing to improve that.”

FOR COMMENT PLEASE CONTACT CPSU MEDIA OFFICER JULIAN LEE ON 0409 493 290

Now more than ever it is vital for UTS Professional staff to join together to stand up for your rights, if you are not already a member join today (https://membership.psa.asn.au/join/)

Managing Change and the Kuring-gai campus closure

I would hope all our Professional staff at UTS are aware that “All learning and teaching activities will move from Kuring-gai campus to the City in time for the new academic year in 2016.”

Also “June 2008 marked our first major Kuring-gai campus (Lindfield) milestone, when the lands surrounding the campus buildings were rezoned for residential use.

The residential lands were sold to Defence Housing Australia (DHA) in 2010. DHA’s main role is to provide housing for Australian Defence Force members and their families.  The sale is great news for UTS. DHA is a developer of the highest calibre, a trusted government business enterprise, and a first-rate neighbour for UTS and local Lindfield residents.

In December 2012, UTS entered an in-principle agreement with the NSW Government to swap Kuring-gai Campus for a State-owned asset in Ultimo, allowing UTS to expand its City Campus footprint. Importantly, the swap enables the State to establish a new, much-needed secondary school in Lindfield. Until the transfer to the City campus (end-2015), students and staff at Lindfield will continue to enjoy the full range of services and facilities presently available.”

For a history of the site read this: https://www.aila.org.au/projects/NSW/ku-ring-gai/docs/uts_hist.pdf

While we can be excited about the new buildings that are coming and the wonderful vision there has been nothing much shared with Professional staff about how this campus closure and relocation is going to be handled and no change management documentation produced by UTS so that Professional staff can see their vision and future is secure at UTS.

The CPSU have therefore written to the University today asking that they fulfil their obligations as set in our current Support Staff Enterprise Agreement.

Now more than ever it is vital for UTS Professional staff to join together to stand up for your rights, if you are not already a member join today (https://membership.psa.asn.au/join/)

UniSuper has the following connections to the Australian Government’s “detention network.”

The National Tertiary Education Union’s General Secretary is on the Board of UniSuper, as is a representative from the Community & Public Sector Union.

Australia: the country of the fair go . . . for some

27 March, 2014 | Media ReleaseAustralia risks losing its claim as the country of the fair go if the alarming decline in the relative earnings of low paid workers continues.

ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said the national minimum wage is now just 43.3% of average full time wages, the lowest proportion on record.

“The gap between low paid workers and the rest is the biggest it’s ever been,” Mr Oliver said.

“Only twenty years ago Australia's minimum wage was nearly 60% of average full time wages yet it has declined during both economic booms and times of slower growth with the net result being that low paid workers are being left behind.

“The fact that nearly 19% of Australian workers meet the OECD definition of low pay – those with earnings below two thirds of the median – is equally alarming.

“Australia is meant to be the country of the fair go but the stats speak for themselves – we’re going down the path of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots – with the ‘have-not’ population growing.”

Mr Oliver said the ACTU will lodge a submission to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) on Friday March 28 calling for a wage increase for Australia’s lowest paid including cleaners, retail and hospitality staff, child care workers, farm labourers, and some factory workers.

“The annual minimum wage review is the only chance for a pay increase for 1.5 million of Australia’s lowest paid workers, and helps set the pay and pay increases of many more” Mr Oliver said.

“Someone on a minimum wage of $622 per week barely has enough to cover their basic costs.

“Australia is becoming a high cost country to live in and for low paid workers it’s getting harder and harder to get by.

“We know that households with low paid adults have experienced a rise in financial stress and deprivation with the number of people seeking welfare assistance nearly doubling.

“If the gap continues to widen, Australians will need to work multiple jobs just to afford the basics moving us towards the ‘working poor’ scenario they have in the US – something Australians have made very clear they don’t want.

“Australians pride themselves on the fair go and enshrined in our laws is a requirement to maintain a safety net of fair minimum wages taking into account relative living standards and the needs of the low paid.

“It is essential that the Fair Work Commission increase the minimum wage to stop the alarming decline in the relative earnings of low paid workers.”

Mr Oliver said the FWC has already acknowledged that if rising earnings inequality is not addressed there may be ‘broader implications both for our economy and for the maintenance of social cohesion in Australia’.
 
“The best outcome for workers will be one that stops the gap growing between low paid workers and the rest of the community.”

Key Facts:
 
•    The Minimum wage is currently $622.20 or $32,355.44 a year
•    The Minimum Wage is now just 43.3% of the average full-time wage (AWOTE), the lowest minimum wage ‘bite’ on record. Five years ago, the Minimum Wage was 46.9% of the average. Five years before that, the ratio was 48.2%.
•    Two decades ago, Australia's minimum wage was nearly 60% of average full time wages, ten years on it was hovering around 50%.
•    The rise in the incidence of low pay is particularly sharp and concerning. In 2002, 13.8% of Australian full-time workers had earnings below two-thirds of the median; by 2012 this had risen to 18.9%.
•    Over the past ten years, average full-time wages rose by $211.30 per week in real terms, or 17.2%. The Minimum Wage was increased by just $31.10 in inflation-adjusted terms, a real increase of 5.3% over the past decade. 
•    The Minimum Wage is only slightly higher in inflation-adjusted terms than it was in 2006. 
•    Statistics show that households with low paid adult employees have experienced a rise in financial stress and deprivation between 2003-04 and 2009-10.23 Over that period: 
o    The proportion that sought assistance from a welfare/community organisation nearly doubled, from 2.3% to 4.2%. Among households with only low-paid adult employees, the rise was even larger, from 2.4% to 6.5%;
o    The proportion that could not raise $2000 for something important rose from 13.1% to 17.6%; 
o    The proportion that went without meals rose from 2.5% to 3.7%, with the proportion among households with only low-paid adult employees increasing from 3.5% to 6.8%; 
o    The proportion that could not afford a holiday for at least one week a year rose 25.7% to 31.4%, or from 33.7% to 38.4% among households with only low-paid adult employees.

Contact Details Carla De Campo, 0410 579 575 and Eleni Hale, 0418 793 885

Download File:  ACTU Release: Minimum Wage Inequality

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