Author Archives: AUWU

Last Chance to Submit to Newstart Senate Inquiry

The Senate has just extended the due date for submissions to its Newstart inquiry!

Submissions will now close on Monday September 30.

Writing a submission takes no longer than 2 – 3 minutes. The more submissions received, the more pressure there will be on the Morrison government to commit to an increase.

Join the growing movement for an increase to Newstart by submitting on the government website here!

You do not have to be receiving Newstart to make a submission. All you need is an opinion on the adequacy of the Newstart payment.

It can be hard to know where to start with a submission. To help, we have prepared some some prompts to guide you here. This will help you to respond to the terms of reference of the inquiry.

We recommended submitting:

  1. Online on the government’s website
  2. By email: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au or seniorclerk.committees.sen@aph.gov.au
  3. Please send simone.casey@auwu.org.au a copy of your submission as we are collecting stories for the case studies in our submission (we will contact you for permission before we do this)

For more information on the Privacy of your submission, please click here.

If you need any other information, please contact Hayden Patterson at sa.auwu@gmail.com or on (08) 8035 4213.

Finally, the AUWU is a volunteer organisation with no paid staff or political affiliations. To help the AUWU continue the work it is doing, we would greatly appreciate a donation through our website here. No amount is too small.

AUWU Committee of Management Position Descriptions

President

Tasks

  • Understand, approve and review AUWU annual plan
  • Attend monthly Committee of Management video conference meetings
  • Facilitate / convene Committee of Management meetings
  • Facilitate / convene National Steering Committee meetings
  • Coach / mentor National Coordinator regularly and other CoM members as needed
  • Attend meetings with stakeholders as required

Estimate of minimum hourly commitment per week: 6-10 hours

Secretary

Tasks

  • Understand, approve and review AUWU annual plan
  • Attend monthly Committee of Management video conference meetings and submit a report for consideration
  • Attend Monthly National Steering Committee teleconference
  • Register with relevant state body
  • Manage correspondence
  • Manage minutes
  • Manage membership
  • Manage record keeping

Estimate of minimum hourly commitment per week: 6-10 hours

Treasurer

Tasks

  • Understand, approve and review AUWU annual plan
  • Attend monthly Committee of Management video conference meetings and submit a report for consideration
  • Attend Monthly National Steering Committee teleconference
  • Manage finances
  • Maintain financial records

Estimate of minimum hourly commitment per week:  6-10 hours

Vice President

Tasks

  • Understand, approve and review AUWU annual plan
  • Attend monthly Committee of Management video conference meetings and submit a report for consideration
  • Attend Monthly National Steering Committee teleconference
  • Assist President, Secretary and Treasurer as needed
  • Attend meetings with stakeholders as required

Estimate of minimum hourly commitment per week: 6-10 hours

Ordinary Committee of Management Members (2)

Tasks

  • Understand, approve and review AUWU annual plan
  • Attend monthly Committee of Management video conference meetings
  • Further tasks as agreed by the Committee of Management

Estimate of minimum hourly commitment per week: 4-10 hours

Newstart Senate Submissions Close This Friday!

The Senate has launched an inquiry on Newstart and related payments.

This inquiry – titled ‘Adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia’ – gives us an great opportunity to tell the government about how the low rate of Newstart has been affecting our lives.

Submissions close this Friday the 13th of September. It is due to report on 27 March 2020.

You do not have to be receiving Newstart to make a submission. All you need is an opinion on the adequacy of the Newstart payment!

It can be hard to know where to start with a submission. To help, we have prepared some some prompts to guide you here. This will help you to respond to the terms of reference of the inquiry.

We recommended submitting:

  1. Online on the government’s website
  2. Email: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au or seniorclerk.committees.sen@aph.gov.au
  3. Please simone.casey@auwu.org.au a copy of your submission as we are collecting stories for the case studies in our submission (we will contact you for permission before we did this)

For more information on the Privacy of your submission, please click here.

If you need more information, please contact Hayden Patterson sa.auwu@gmail.com or on (08) 8035 4213.

Finally, the AUWU is a volunteer organisation with no paid staff or political affiliations. To help the AUWU continue the work it is doing, we would greatly appreciate a donation through our website here. No amount is too small.

Join Our Free Weekly Advocacy Mentorship in Melbourne

AUWU advocacy services are a life-line for unemployed workers. For many in the employment services system, there is nowhere else to turn.

As an unfunded advocacy service run entirely by unemployed volunteers, responding to every advocacy call and email is a challenge. Over the past few months, there has been an unprecedented demand for our service.
Join our Melbourne advocacy mentorship program and help us make sure everyone who contacts the AUWU advocacy services gets the support they need. Every Tuesday at the NUW Offices in Melbourne, experienced AUWU advocates have been mentoring Advocacy volunteers and helping them get the skills they need to help unemployed workers deal with the increasingly punitive employment ‘services’ system.

AUWU Volunteers at Mentorship Workshop held at NUW offices in Melbourne, 28 May 2019

The mentorship will consist of a workshop at NUW offices in Melbourne designed to help AUWU Volunteers prepare to call back people who left messages on the AUWU’s advocacy hotline – all under the supervision of an experienced team of AUWU advocates. The aim will be to run these sessions every fortnight on and on-going basis.

These sessions will be run every Tuesday in at least May. Please check the AUWU facebook events for more information and to RSVP to an event.

Details of Upcoming Trainings

It was clear from this week’s budget that the only way we are going to get our voices heard is if we are organised.

That is why the AUWU are conducting our first ever series of free National Trainings over the next week. These three training sessions will be held in Melbourne, Sydney and streamed online.

Please sign up to these trainings to learn how to get more involved in the AUWU. Remember, these trainings are open to everyone so be sure to come along if you are available. While these trainings are free, we would appreciate it if you could make a small donation on our website home page to help us cover the costs of running them.

Training #1: Volunteer Induction

Where: National Union of Workers, 833 Bourke Street Melbourne (and also online through crowd cast)
When: 5:30pm, Monday 8 April
RSVP: Please RSVP to the in-person training here. To RSVP for the online session, click here.
What: General information about upcoming campaigns and what volunteering with the AUWU looks like.

Training #2: Advocacy Training Day

Where: Unions NSW, 4/10 Goulburn Street, Sydney (and also online through crowd cast)
When: 1pm – 5pm, Monday April 15
RSVP: Please RSVP to the in-person training here. To RSVP for the online session, click here.
What: Information on how to run the AUWU’s advocacy hotline and services.

Once you RSVP we will be in touch with details about how to attend, both in-person and online.

Look forward to seeing you there.

P.S The AUWU is a volunteer organisation with no paid staff. We rely on donations to pay our operational costs. Please donate on our website home page to help support our activities.