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.

The Public Good is a union and community campaign led by UnionsWA and public sector unions. Our supporters come from across the WA community. The Public Good is about highlighting the prominent and positive role that the public sector workforce plays in the lives of Western Australians.

This campaign builds on the success of the Save Our Services campaign, which fought the Barnett Liberal National Government’s cuts to public services and successfully fought against privatisation. We believed that to secure better policies there needed to be a change of government at the last state election.

Government has changed and times have changed.

Our public sector ensures that people most in need can access health care, schools, public roads and transport and other services. 

The public sector serves us all, including the vulnerable in society.

Public sector workers deserve a fair go. Like all Western Australians, they need to be paid fairly so that their pay keeps up with the cost of living.

We believe privatisation undermines the quality of our public services. Privatisation leads to the loss of public sector jobs, rising costs of services, maintenance and safety concerns and a loss of future income and the capacity of our public sector.

We will always take a stand against Governments who have a privatisation agenda.

We encourage the current state Government to value our public sector workers and to invest in our public sector for the benefit of the whole community.

Meredith Hammat, Secretary UnionsWA 

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For queries please contact Rebecca Doyle at rdoyle@unionswa.com.au

To volunteer, get in touch with Rebecca Thompson at rthompson@unionswa.com.au

Website: www.thepublicgood.com.au 

UnionsWA has welcomed the release today by the WA Government of the report of the inquiry into wage theft led by Tony Beech, former Chief Commissioner of the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The report and response by the government are available online here.

UnionsWA has today commented on the decision by WA Industrial Relations Commission in the State Wage Case, which sets wages for around three hundred thousand working West Australians on the WA Minimum Wage and reliant State awards including many trainees and apprentices.

UnionsWA has today commented on the release of research commissioned by the WA Government on the health impacts of Fly-in Fly-out work. The research report can be viewed online here.

By making us better informed about workplace health and safety issues you will help make our advocacy stronger. We respect your privacy. You can view or download our Privacy Policy online here. To show our respect for your time, all survey completions will go into a draw for the chance to win a $100 gift voucher. To progress through this short survey you're asked to provide an email (of course you don;t have to give us your real name if you wish). If you do not wish to go in the draw or receive any emails, un-tick the "send email updates" box). In some cases, we'd really like to talk further by phone (optional) and we do follow our privacy policy, we won't sell your number! If you'd like more information about our work health and safety priorities, resources etc., please check out this page here. 

UnionsWA has commented on the latest job training data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) evidencing a steep decline in job training participation in WA, falling at almost four times the national rate.

UnionsWA has welcomed the announcement today of the appointment by the WA Government of Ms Toni Walkington as a member of the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

UnionsWA has today commented on the release by the Insurance Commission of WA of a report showing that claims for work-related stress among the public sector workforce has risen greatly. UnionsWA has release the early results of its own survey that shows workload and management-related stress is the greatest concern among all working people, including those in the public and not-for-profit sectors.

The Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia and UnionsWA have today unveiled a plaque at the Remembrance Wall in Perth’s Solidarity Park and plans for a permanent memorial at the park to remember the victims, survivors and families that to affected by the asbestos disaster at Wittenoom.