Category Archives: Announcements

Your Rights: Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a problem with your Employment Service Provider, chances are someone else has had the same problem and asked us about it.

To help you get answers quickly, we have complied a list of Frequently Asked Questions on our website.

Before you call our National Advocacy Hotline with your problem, please look at the Frequently Asked Questions on the rights of unemployed workers.

Also please remember when dealing with Employment Service Providers: always ask them to justify what they say in writing with reference to the jobactive deed.

This will prevent them breaking social security law.

And as always, if you would like to make an official complaint about your Employment Service Provider, call the department of Employment on 1800 805 260.

Additionally you can also call the Ombudsman to exert maximum pressure.

National Advocacy Service Update

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 the law.

When will the government ensure that these privately owned employment service providers are actually upholding Social Security Law?

If you have issues with your Employment Service Provider, call us today on (03) 8394 5266

New Name

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 be thought of as workers who, due to the failure of Government economic policy, have been left out of our economy.

With the official statistics showing that there are 12 job seekers applying for every job vacancy, this position is fully justified.

By presenting ourselves as unemployed workers, we will be creating a new way to think about unemployment in Australia.

But even more importantly, we will be breaking down the barriers that have divided employed workers from unemployed workers.

For too long, the Government and the right-wing media have tried to pit employed workers against the unemployed.

Why? To distract people from the Government’s own failure to create enough jobs.

Together lets expose this fraud and unite in the common struggle for a fair society for all.

LABOR PARTY’S RESPONSE TO OUR OPEN LETTER

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 “believes moves to more closely align the dates of suspensions and/or penalties with the actual date of non-compliance in relation to activities and job search requirements have merit.”

Considering that there are currently 12 job seekers competing for every job vacancy, what we need more than ever is a strong force in Australian politics that will oppose all punitive measures against the unemployed and advocate for the nationalisation of all Employment Service Providers. Job creation, not the punishment of the disadvantaged, must be the number one concern of government.

We Want You!

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 can to produce both an on-line version of ‘Unemployment Workers Rights’ as well as a hard copy. This document will be a complete reference guide of the rights Newstart recipients have at Employment Service Provider, Work for the Dole and at Centrelink

In conjunction, we’ve almost finished setting up a national ‘hot line’ that you can call and get advice on dealing with Jobactive providers and Centrelink, and we’re hoping to be able to provide advocacy as well. But it’s not enough.

We need YOUR HELP to carry it on and spread the word. We need volunteers to distribute ‘Unemployment Workers Rights’ outside every Jobactive provider’s office in every city, town and suburb. We want to make unemployment one of the key issues in the coming election. For all Parties, major, minor or independent.

Our ultimate goal is to get rid of this abhorrent system and the parasites who feed off it. This will take time and dedication but it can be done and we need to take the next steps NOW! We’re not asking you for money, just an hour or two of your time to hand out booklets to help the unemployed. As a union, we have no membership fees. Anyone can join, unemployed, under-employed or fully employed.  Coast to coast there are 1.8 million unemployed and under employed. As individuals, there is very little that we can do to fight the system. As a collective however, we represent a powerful force for change and NOW IS THE TIME FOR CHANGE!

JOIN US AND HELP CHANGE THE SYSTEM.

Download a membership form here: https://www.mediafire.com/?dl611zjs2in6xtx