G'day, and welcome to The Worker! If it's not already there, your 2025 membership card should be in your letterbox soon.
Congratulations to our gold, platinum and double-platinum members - and thank you for your loyalty to the AWU!
This winter, we celebrate 139 years of the Australian Workers' Union. On the 12th of June, 1886, our founders, David Temple and William Guthrie Spence, and forty shearers gathered at the Fern's Hotel in Ballarat.
The issues those shearers faced 139 years ago aren't too dissimilar to what our members face today: fair wages for a hard day's work, decent working conditions, and secure jobs they could rely on.
And today, we continue that fight for AWU members across Australia.
We're rolling up our sleeves and getting ready to work with the re-elected Federal Labor Government. Australians sent a clear message at the ballot box and have given Labor a strong mandate to pursue its progressive, grounded agenda to put working people first.
Now it's time to make the most of the next three years and do everything we can to secure our industries and boost wages and conditions.
Industry challenges are at the top of our agenda. Too many manufacturers are up against it from cut-price imports, unfair government procurement rules and energy challenges.
It's great to see new workplace rights that have wages growing and unions back on the front foot. We're making full use of these to make sure you get a better deal at work.
But these changes won't help workers who lose their jobs if companies can't sell their products, or secure cheap, reliable energy. That's why we're bringing a clear vision to Canberra to deliver on the government's 'Future Made in Australia' vision. We must put our existing industries are at the forefront of this program, and make sure they have the opportunity to thrive long into the future.
We must take action on dumping and give the Anti-Dumping Commission real power to block the sale of below-cost imports on our shores.
We need to legislate local procurement rules so Australian steel, aluminium and other building supplies are used to build our infrastructure. Plus, it's crucial we act now to Reserve our Gas; more on that in this season's Big Issue!
Our number one priority for this term of government is securing manufacturing so we really do see a Future Made in Australia.
This winter, we're also opening nominations for the 2025 AWU Campaign of the Year and Yossi Berger Safety Awards. These awards recognise AWU members who have gone the extra mile on site, whether it's negotiating a better EA for members, growing union power, changing legislation or policies, increasing delegates or improving workplace health and safety standards.
If you know someone who deserves to be recognised this year, please take the time to nominate them. It can be an individual worker, a workgroup, or an entire worksite, as long as they're financial AWU members.
To submit a nomination for the Campaign of the Year Award, fill out our online form at:
https://go.awu.net.au/COTY-Nomination
To submit a nomination for the Yossi Berger Safety Award, fill out our online form at:
https://go.awu.net.au/YB-Nomination
I hope you enjoy catching up on the latest news from across our branches in this edition of the Worker!
