The Australian Unions Support Centre provides free and confidential assistance and information for all workplace issues. We’re here to provide support, regardless of your job or industry. All Support Centre enquiries are 100% confidential.
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The gender pay gap now at its lowest point ever at 11.5%. If we continue to progress as we are, the gender pay gap in Australia could close completely within nine years.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/11/19/20-reasons-why-the-gender-pay-gap-is-closing-faster/
Thanks to new laws which union members won this year, gig economy workers are entitled to the pay, rights and benefits that other workers enjoy.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/11/04/new-rights-and-protections-for-gig-economy-workers/
Labour hire loopholes were exploited by employers – but that’s finally changing thanks to union-won Same Job Same Pay laws, which unions have already used to win substantial pay rises!
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/10/15/how-these-workers-are-getting-a-30k-pay-rise/
Here we summarise some of the key recent wins. Plus you can check out our updated factsheets covering workplace discrimination, labour hire, types of employment, and casual workers.
If annual wage growth had continued at the same low rate as under the last Coalition government, the average Australian worker’s wages or salary would be $4,700 less today.
Union members are using new union-won laws to secure better pay and conditions for thousands of workers across workplaces and industries.
No matter what you do for work, it’s essential to understand your rights when it comes to your payslip. Your employer is responsible for maintaining accurate records, and must provide you a payslip within one business day of receiving your pay. While there are penalties in place for employers who fail to do so, not…
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/07/26/are-you-being-paid-correctly/
Today’s the start of a new financial year, and a number of changes that benefit workers – and workers’ wallets – have come into effect.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/07/04/union-members-win-change-this-financial-year/
In just over one week, millions of workers across Australia will start to see a boost to their pay packets and increased safety in their workplaces.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/06/20/six-wins-for-workers-to-celebrate-on-1-july/
This year union members are calling for workers in key low-paid feminised industries to receive an interim pay rise of 9%.
This week, union members announced that we are calling for a 5% increase to help with the cost-of-living and make sure we’re getting our share of the profits we create.
A new report by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work confirms that increasing the minimum wage is the right thing to do in this cost-of-living crisis, and there is no risk of an increase triggering inflation.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/03/22/heres-how-your-wages-could-be-going-up/
On this International Women’s Day, there’s much to celebrate – from the tough, tireless working women who fought for better conditions, liveable wages and autonomy throughout the last two centuries; right through to the victories won by working women over the past year.
Did you see the gender pay gap figures that were announced yesterday? It happened because unions fought – and won – to bring in new laws that force companies to publicly disclose the difference between male and female workers’ earnings. The numbers tell us that we’ve come a long way, particularly in the last few…
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2024/02/28/gender-pay-gap-the-lowest-on-record/
Part one of the Closing Loopholes Bill has passed the Senate, delivering a much-needed win for Australian workers heading into the holiday season.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/12/20/new-laws-passed/
The Closing Loopholes bill was introduced by the Albanese Government in the face of massive price gouging and profiteering by big business that caused a massive inflation spike. The new laws will increase job security, help stop wage theft, make workplaces safer, and help get wages moving again.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/10/17/lets-get-wages-moving-again-close-the-loopholes/
New laws, designed to make workplaces fairer and safer for workers, have been introduced by the Albanese Government in Parliament this week.
Whether your pay is getting a bump up and by how much depends on a few different factors. Here are three steps to help you figure out how much to expect in your next pay cycle.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/06/30/youre-set-to-get-more-pay-in-july-heres-how-to-check/
With two-thirds of workers in Australia having experienced wage theft, chances are it could be happening in your industry too.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/06/15/how-employers-get-away-with-stealing-wages/
“When you get on an aircraft, every crew member could be on a completely different pay scale.”
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/06/06/how-can-staff-be-paid-more-than-their-managers/
Good news! Around one in four workers in Australia have just won a pay rise. Find out if you’re one of them.
Australian unions have just helped secure wage increases between 5.75% and 8.6% for millions of workers.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/06/02/weve-won-a-pay-rise-for-millions-of-workers-today/
They grew up during the Global Financial Crisis, survived a decade of conservative governments, and now are well and truly adults. Millennials are thirty, flirty and so not thriving.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/04/21/do-millennials-and-gen-z-really-have-it-that-tough/
Here are the six things you need to know about how everyone benefits from fair pay rises.
For workers who rely on minimum wages, the sheer cost of living doesn’t mean missing out on takeaway coffee or streaming services. Those things are already long gone. It means cutting back on basic needs because there’s nothing else left to cut.
How have we reached this point? Because wage growth has looked like a bumpy footpath for the past decade while corporate profits have scaled mountains.
It’s a shocking figure that has gained massive media attention, making headlines in the ABC and the Guardian. Even The Australian understands that one in four Australian skipping meals means we need urgent reform.
Prices on everything are going up but our wages have failed to match those increases. The budget is a chance to turn the trend around. But don’t just take it from us. It’s what the experts are saying too.
Do you work on a plane? Or in a café? Or conduct tours? If you work one of these jobs or one of the many others in aviation, hospitality, travel and tourism, you should have received a few extra dollars in your most recent pay slip. As of 1 October, workers in these industries have…
Our workplace bargaining laws are overly and unnecessarily complicated. They no longer provide an even playing field for workers.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2022/09/01/how-we-can-get-wages-growing-again/
Keep an eye out of the next few days for the union movement’s positive plan to ensuring millions of workers can get a pay rise.
We are staring in the face of a massive cost of living crisis where the prices everywhere have gone up but our wages have not. So what do we do to tackle such a big challenge?
A new report from the Australian Council of Trade Unions calls for the reinvigoration of Australia’s TAFE by guaranteeing a minimum of 70 percent public funding, as well repairing almost a decade of damage to our apprenticeship system.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2022/08/17/workers-wages-and-training-need-a-massive-boost/
The interest rate rise of 0.5 percentage points, which brings the cash rate to 1.85 per cent, announced on Tuesday by the Reserve Bank of Australia will worsen the cost-of-living crisis for workers.
The evidence is in: this cost-of-living crisis could have been prevented if corporate giants had put people over profit.
Good news for workers without paid sick leave: the Albanese Government has restored the $750 Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment.
How would you like to live like a CEO for a day? We’re certainly putting our hands up.
There are plenty of reasons to celebrate the 5.2% wage increase minimum wage workers will see appear on their pay slips in a matter of days. But it seems big business and conservative politicians aren’t too keen to give workers their fair share.
“If you said workers should continue to have real wage cuts and pay for an inflation rate they didn’t cause, I think that’s morally bankrupt,” said Sally McManus.
Today, the Fair Work Commission has announced a 5.2 per cent increase the minimum wage from 1 July. This increase equates to an extra $40 per week in the pocket of a full-time worker on the minimum wage. For workers who are reliant on award wages, the increase will be 4.6 per cent or $40 per week, whichever…
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2022/06/15/union-win-5-2-increase-to-the-minimum-wage/
Minimum wage workers have shared stories what it’s really like to live on low paid work, while Morrison dismissed their frontline jobs as a “stepping stone”.
What does it take to make sure we don’t have to worry about being able to pay the bill at the supermarket or the petrol station? The simple answer: higher wages including an increased minimum wage.
We have been hearing a lot of old disproven excuses from big business and media commentators about why the minimum wage shouldn’t be increased. Here are five things you can say to set the conversation back on track.
Sticking to the minimum wage on its own simply isn’t enough to keep us out of poverty.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2022/04/01/what-is-a-living-wage-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
Australia’s living standards and wages need to stop going backwards. Wage increases need to more than cover the rising cost of living – we need a genuine living wage.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2022/03/31/why-its-time-for-a-5-increase-to-the-minimum-wage/
The numbers are in: you’ve copped a pay cut, and you might not even know it.
The best way to avoid having your wages stolen in the first place is to be a union member.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2022/02/28/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-paid-what-youre-owed/
Give yourself the working life you deserve
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2022/02/24/three-ways-to-get-that-bread-at-work-this-year/
It’s time to face the truth. Our wages problem is because of the weak bargaining power of workers, writes ACTU Secretary Sally McManus
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2021/07/14/no-economic-recovery-without-a-wages-recovery/
Over two million workers are set to get a 2.5% pay rise after a hard-fought campaign by Australian unions.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2021/06/30/unions-win-pay-rise-for-over-2-million-workers/
A new report released by independent think tank Per Capita shows an increase to the minimum wage is critical to Australia’s economic recovery
A minimum wage increase will improve the lives of millions of Australians, but employer groups are trying to block it. What can be done?
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2021/05/19/what-can-be-done-about-low-wages/
The budget has failed as a plan to revive Australia’s social infrastructure and as a plan for economic recovery, writes Chloe Ward
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2021/05/13/this-budget-is-a-failure/
We’ve rounded up the last five years of Annual Wage Review submissions to see who is trying to stop you from getting a pay rise
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2021/04/30/whos-trying-to-stop-you-getting-a-pay-rise/
A real, meaningful increase to the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do, but makes plenty of sense, writes Chloe Ward.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2021/04/09/making-the-case-for-a-living-wage/
Pay rises don’t just happen. Somebody has to ask for them.
This week, Australian Unions are doing just that. We’re making our case to the annual wage review for a rise in the minimum wage. Let’s break down what the annual wage review is and what it could mean for you.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2021/03/26/break-it-down-for-me-changes-to-the-minimum-wage/
Each year, Australian Unions works to increase the minimum wage for all workers.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2020/06/21/the-minimum-wage-will-increase-2020/
Australia’s a great place to live with a high standard of living, and we want to keep it that way. A cornerstone of our way of life is a decent wage – not just a minimum wage but a living wage. A decent wage that includes penalty rates, overtime allowances and paid leave. A national…
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2018/07/11/the-minimum-wage-should-be-a-living-wage/
No worker should ever have their wages stolen, but it has become a widespread and common problem in Australia. Roughly one-third of Australian workers are victims of wage theft each year, robbing workers around the country of an estimated $1.35 billion annually. It can occur in any industry, but wage theft has become common practice…
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2017/09/08/wage-theft-the-new-model-for-big-business/
One of the defining concepts that underpins much of Malcolm Turnbull’s economic ideas – and pretty much every conservative government going back to Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s – is the belief in “trickle down”.
https://www.australianunions.org.au/2016/08/23/trickle-down-inequality-exposed/
The gender pay gap now at its lowest point ever at 11.5%. If we continue to progress as we are, the gender pay gap in Australia could close completely within nine years.
In Australia, your rights as a worker can differ when it comes to your type of employment, especially when it comes to your health and safety, job security, wages and entitlements on the job.
