UnionsWA has today welcomed an important announcement by WA Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston that significantly reduces the workplace safety standard for exposure to silica and coal dust.

UnionsWA has today welcomed the passage by the Legislative Council of the Work Health and Safety Bill 2019.

UnionsWA will today co-host a rally of working people on the steps of Parliament House and will join calls for the Work Health and Safety Bill 2019 and industrial manslaughter law reforms to be passed by the WA Parliament this year.

UnionsWA has today commented on the WA Budget 2020.

Meredith Hammat, Secretary UnionsWA said:

“The COVID-19 health crisis has had a significant impact on jobs for working West Australians. 

“We welcome today’s State Budget which provides significant stimulus measures for jobs across WA."

UnionsWA has welcomed the recent announcement by Federal and WA Governments that arrangements for supporting payments for those required to isolate as a result of the pandemic will protect the West Australian workforce and wider community.

UnionsWA has commented on the release today of new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the gap in pay between women and men and highlighted the many often low paid care work undertaken by women that are vital for a strong, community-wide response to the pandemic.

UnionsWA has today commented on the release by the Australians Bureau of Statistics of data on wages and jobs in WA and nationally since the commencement of the pandemic. The figures show that Western Australia’s economic downturn has been more severe than elsewhere in Australia and that, within WA, the Inner Perth, Wheatbelt, Bunbury and outback WA have been most severely impacted. UnionsWA has called for the JobKeeper and JobSeeker payment programs to continue to a significant extent or entirely.

UnionsWA has today responded to the decision by the WA Industrial Relations Commission for the State Wage Case, which determines the pay of around 250,000 working West Australians reliant on awards, including those on the WA Minimum Wage, trainees and apprentices.

UnionsWA has today welcomed an announcement by the McGowan Government that it will ask the WA Parliament to enact needed and urgent as well as COVID-related reform to workers’ compensation laws that protect the rights of working West Australians. The door-stop for media, with responses from public sector unions, can be view here:

UnionsWA has today commented on the release by the WA Government of a Bill to address anomalies and unfairness in WA’s industrial relations law, which underpin the rights of around 200,000 working West Australians. For the first time the Bill will enable those who have been subject to workplace bullying to seek help from the WA Industrial Relations Commission. IN the video below Meredith Hammat outline the key aspects of the Bill.