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

Below is the grossly inadequate Government response to the open letter we sent to the Minister of Social Services Scott Morrison demanding the Government address its punitive and socially disastrous approach toward unemployed Australians. The Government response failed to address any of our concerns regarding: Any amount of waiting period imposed on Newstart applicants The new punitive system of fines for Newstart recipients The insufficient rate of Newstart which is $280 per fortnight below the poverty line The

In this article, we will analyse the obligations of the Newstart recipients under the Government’s new  jobactive system. A brief summary of the Government’s Mutual Obligations requirements for Newstart recipients is available in the chart below.For a quick explanation of the deliberately confusing acronyms used by the Government, click here.   The entire Mutual Obligation guidelines can be downloaded here, and the Job Seeker Compliance Framework can be downloaded here. The analysis below is drawing mainly from these two

Australian Unemployment Union (Melbourne Branch) Meeting – 17/07/2015   Report back on ‘Fight the Fine’ action on 1 July Anti-Poverty Network’s report on Adelaide’s Fight the Fine protest. Campaign Against Employment Service Providers: Where to next? Choose a Provider and specific office to target What is the main focus of this campaign? Schedule Leafleting/recruitment drive. Lead up to picket of targeted office? Sit in? Chain doors shut? Other confrontational activities Review proposed information leaflet WFTD

3/06/2015 By Dr. Victor Quirk Australian working people have been cruelly betrayed over the past forty years by those elements of the ALP and union leadership who have countenanced the use of unemployment and under-employment as a socio-economic weapon. These people have treacherously dishonoured the historic achievement of Curtin and Chifley who during and after WW2 showed Australians that the federal government can keep the unemployment rate under two per cent if it wishes. They

Recently, News Limited published Treasury figures showing in some instances people who received welfare payments were better off than singles earning $80,000 a year. This report was then reported by many media outlets, including the Guardian. The figures released by Treasury show that people receiving the single parent benefit have a disposable income of $66,000, giving them a higher disposable income than a single taxpayer who earns $80,000. This is completely false and is a