The local WA ACTU Change The Rules campaign has announced a range of activities in the Pearce federal electorate, currently held by Minister Christian Porter. Supporters today paraded outside Porter’s electorate office with a skeleton to remind voters of the skeletons in Porter’s closet – his support for cuts to weekend penalty rates pay, the robbo-debt disaster and a failure to deliver federal government support for the Ellenbrook rail line.

Pearce local, Benjamin Peskett, rattles skeleton outside Christian Porter MP's office

UnionsWA has today commented on recently released data by the ABS comparing the wages of men and women in casual work where no annual leave or sick leave is provided. The ABS estimates that 271, 600 working West Australians are in some form of insecure, casual or contract work where they have no entitlement to paid annual leave or sick leave.

UnionsWA has today commented on the recent submission by the Minerals Council of Australia to the Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and Workers.

UnionsWA has commented on the release today of the Mid-Year Financial Projections Statement (available online here) and the announcement of a scoping project to consider privatisation of Landgate.

As part of the International 16 Days of Action Against Gender Based Violence, UnionsWA and affiliated unions today met with the WA Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, Simone McGurk to hear about action being taken by the State Government to reduce the incidence of family and domestic violence. As a priority, unions are seeking to ensure paid family and domestic violence leave is available for all working people.

Minister McGurk (quoted below)

UnionsWA today released the findings of a major survey (available here) conducted on work and health that has exposed risks arising from employers coercing those injured at work to have employer representatives present during medical examinations and pressure to, in the first instance, attend medical professionals other than an injured working persons’ GP. With 1,052 respondents, this is a credible survey, one of the larger studies on work and health in WA in recent years.

The ABC Online story from Nyrie is available here.

UnionsWA has welcomed the report today that the WA State Government will move to close a loophole that has meant employers have been claiming payroll tax exemptions for trainees.

You might be forgiven for thinking that an industrial dispute involving a small number of workers in the WA rural community of Collie might not matter much to you. If so, you'd be wrong. The implications of the Griffin Coal dispute are profound and will resonate up to and beyond the next federal election.

Meredith Hammat, UnionsWA Secretary, addressing striking workers of Collie.

UnionsWA has commented on the recent release by SafeWork Australia of the latest data on work fatalities in Australia, including WA.  These are the most reliable figures available on work fatalities and provide data on work fatality rates per 100,000 workers over five years to 2015-16. They show the fatality rate in WA worsening from 1.5 in 2011-12 to 1.7 in 2015-16. Over these years, WA is the only state or territory in Australia where the work fatality rate both deteriorated and has been worse than the national average.  

UnionsWA has today commented on the announcement by the WA Government of a review of West Australian industrial relations system. Over 100,000 working West Australians are covered under these WA laws, including those on the WA Minimum Wage, apprentices, trainees and those employed in small business.