AUWU Policy Blog: Fighting back with a seat at the table

Recently, our National Advocacy Service received a call from a distressed single mother who was being told she had to start doing Work for the Dole despite only being on Newstart for one month! Under the law, you can only be forced onto Work for the Dole after 6 months of being on Newstart. The Job Agent also made no mention of the fact that Single Parents are entitled to reduced Mutual Obligation requirements under

We have officially changed our name to the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union To end the negative stigma which has increasingly plagued the unemployed over the last 40 years, it is imperative that we change how we think and talk about the unemployed. This is what our name change is trying to do. To fight the pervasive attitude that views the unemployed as a “bludger” class that simply prefer to sponge of others, the unemployed must

Below is the Federal Labor Party’s mixed response to our open letter demanding the withdrawal of the current attacks directed at the unemployed. While the Australian Unemployment Union warmly welcomes the Labor Party’s commitment to review the Coalition government’s proposed attacks against the unemployed in the Senate and its opposition to the Coalition’s ‘unfair’ approach to the unemployed, we are deeply concerned about the Labor Party’s ongoing support for the punitive mutual obligation system and its thinly veiled statement that it

The Australian The government’s flagship indigenous job creation program that aimed to employ 5000 people by the end of the year has resulted in just 471 jobs retained for longer than six months. Based on the GenerationOne employment model developed by mining magnate Andrew Forrest, the $70 million Vocational Training and Employment Centres were an election commitment of the Coalition and are designed to reward businesses for keeping indigenous Australians employed. Figures obtained by The

As the weeks roll by the questions mount up, and so does the demand for answers. ‘What can I do? What are my rights?’ ‘My provider says that I have to work 25 hours a week to keep my payments – is this true?’ ‘When are you guys going to organize flash crowds outside of my local Jobactive provider?’ First, in answer to the enquires on what to do; we’re working as fast as we