Category Archives: Announcements

Make A Difference! Volunteer with the AUWU.

Are you fed up with Government and media bashing the unemployed?

Do you want a future where everyone has a right to dignified employment and social security?

The AUWU needs you!

Meet amazing people and get invaluable experience volunteering at Australia’s only organisation representing unemployed workers.

AUWU volunteers set their own hours, work mostly from home, and are supported by a team of coordinators. Our volunteers find helping unemployed workers deeply rewarding and appreciate being given the chance to learn new skills:

“What I like about volunteering with the AUWU is I get to try out roles I never had the opportunity to do before, plus I know my efforts contribute to making real change in the lives of Australians who are doing it hard”, AUWU member

Start your journey with the AUWU by looking through our list of vacant positions below. Simply click the group you would like to join, read more about the responsibilities of the role, and fill out a short online form to express your interest. An AUWU coordinator will contact you to discuss the roles you are interested in and help you with the training you need.

There are no requirements to volunteer, and all volunteers will be provided with a reference.

Vacant AUWU Positions

  • Advocacy Team
    Help unemployed people who need advice or are in distress. Be a part of the only national service dedicated to empowering people forced to deal with job agencies. Training provided. Positions include:

    • Advocacy Officer
    • Legal Officer
    • Research Officer
  • Campaigns Team
    From strategic planning to direct action, you can make a difference on these important issues. Positions include:

    • Forced Income Management Delegate
    • Job Agency Delegate
    • Newstart Delegate
    • Work for the Dole Delegate
  • Communications Team
    Write a press release, a newspaper article, or a social media post. Design a leaflet or poster. Get creative with memes, slogans, and more! Positions include:

    • Audio Visual Officer
    • Events Officer
    • Graphic Design Officer
    • Inclusion Officer
    • Media Officer
    • Newsletter Officer
    • Outreach Officer
    • Social Media Officer
    • Website Officer
  • Education & Training Team
    Develop and deliver our in-house and public training courses, info sessions, and reading group sessions. Capture and promote the knowledge base unique to the AUWU. Positions include:

    • Education Officer
    • Training Officer
    • Research Officer
  • Administration Team
    Keep the AUWU on track and running smoothly. Correspond with members and allied organisations. Attract and monitor funding. Help out with the day-to-day running of the organisation. Positions include:

    • Finance and Funding Officer
    • Grants Officer
    • Membership Officer
    • Volunteer Coordinator

Look forward to hearing from you!

AUWU Team.

My Health Record

The AUWU takes no position on the My Health system.

We encourage our members to make a decision based upon their individual circumstances.

Below is our recommended reading on the issue.

In a 27 July press release, ACOSS states: “we cannot support an Opt Out arrangement whilst it is clear that the current legislation is inadequate for protecting people’s basic privacy”.

Courier Mail article sounds a note of caution.

Very little is stopping My Health Record being hooked up to robo-debt — anyone who has felt the pain of a Centrelink “Robo-debt” will understand the concerns expressed here.

Government Digital Health Agency Flyer

Government Opt Out Information.

Visit the My Health Record website or call the My Health Record helpline on 1800 723 471, if you don’t want a record automatically created for you, by 15 October, 2018.

 

jobactive 2020: Tell them to stop the abuse.

AUWU members are hammering the panel review of the jobactive contract (details below). Our members and allies are standing up for themselves and other unemployed workers. Truly inspiring! Check it out here.

Tell them to stop the abuse. Tell them we want real jobs and real services.

Something pretty big is in the works. And it is going to affect the lives of unemployed workers for years to come.

A window of opportunity is cracked open, allowing us unemployed workers to have a voice. Let’s throw this thing wide open!

Tell the government what you think should be in the “jobactive” contract!

You have until 3rd August, 2018. Read more… or go straight to this link.

 

So what’s going on?

The government is in the process of writing the next contract by which it will purchase “employment services” from businesses and non-profits.

The current 2015-2020 “jobactive” contract, as we know, is a bargain at $10 billion dollars. Or, it is possibly the single most wasteful and harmful expenditure in the history of Australia.

When you or a loved one is interacting with a job agent or caseworker, the “jobactive” contract calls the shots.

The “jobactive” contract comes up for renewal in 2020, and already an “Employment Services Expert Advisory Panel” is hard at work rewriting it.

These hardworking folk include Matt O’Sullivan, who advised the Turnbull government on the trial of the cashless welfare card.

Another notable is Allan McCallum, chairman of the Tasmanian salmon farming company Tassal. Tassal featured in an October 2016 episode of Four Corners about environmental destruction caused by salmon farming. In 2017, the Environmental Protection Authority identified 14 non-compliance issues by the company — perhaps the “expert” panel has special insight when it come to compliance for unemployed workers.

This panel of experts is now calling for submissions. We have until 3rd August, 2018. Tell the panel what you think real employment services should look like!

The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (AUWU) is also making a submission, based on serious research.

The Panel’s Terms of Reference include, “Effectively tailoring mutual obligation and compliance strategies”. The AUWU believes compliance strategies can only be abusive when there are not enough jobs (ABS figures show about 16 job seekers for every job). The AUWU also believes compliance strategies can only be abusive when “employment services” get their money by using their power to force people into unsuitable activities.

The Panel has already written a discussion paper which includes all sorts of fun compliance cattle prods to “activate” unemployed workers.

Write to them now!

Let them know the current system is broken, is a waste of money, and doesn’t help unemployed people. Let them know we want real jobs not fake jobs, real education not fake training, real services not abuse and “activation”. Let them know the only way to achieve this is to make all mutual obligations voluntary!

Write to them now!

Already, they have started an “Online Employment Services Trial.” They think they can save money by making unemployed workers do everything online. Too bad if you can’t afford the data connection. Too bad if you have bad internet service. Too bad if “the computer says no”.

Write to them now!

Got to this website page and click on their “join the conversation” link.

They really want to hear from you. They are NOT taking submissions by email. So you have to fill in their online form, answer or leave blank a bunch of questions, then upload the file where you wrote your own statements.

Or, send them a letter, now.

Future Employment Services Consultation

Active Labour Market Assistance Branch
C10MT4
Department of Jobs and Small Business
GPO Box 9880
CANBERRA ACT 2601

We can’t wait to hear back from them, can you?

July Dates: “Dump Your Demerits” Info Sessions

click for DEMERIT POINTS CAMPAIGN PAGE

In July the AUWU is holding six free events across five states to inform unemployed workers how to fight back against the government’s new punitive Demerit Point system.

We have booked a terrific line-up of speakers for each event, and you can pick up free leaflets and booklets about how to resist. Click on the facebook event links to find out more about each session.

Under this unfair new system, unemployed workers attending job agencies will be stripped of their rights to appeal job agency penalties, and harsher fines will be introduced for non-compliance.

Unemployed workers will be able to have our demerit points reset to zero at several stages within the complicated demerit point system. RSVP to your local event below, and learn how to Dump Your Demerits.

We look forward to meeting you and sharing tips on how to resist the abuse.

 

AUWU’s employment services research project – Participants wanted!

For its annual hotline report, the AUWU is conducting research into the experiences of unemployed workers in Australia.

Together with our partners Monash University and Per Capita, we are looking to speak to unemployed workers across seven locations throughout July for approximately two hours. Participants will receive a $40 gift voucher.

If you would like to register your interest for any of the focus groups below, please click on the event you would like to attend to sign up. We will then be in contact with you with more information about the focus groups, including specific locations and times. All information provided will be de-identified.

List of Focus Groups

To qualify for the research, you have to consider yourself to be an unemployed worker.

This information gathered will form a central part of the AUWU’s efforts to reform the employment services industry over the next two years.​ There are limited spots available so get in quickly. Click here to share on facebook.

If you cannot attend a focus group but would like to participate in this important research, please fill out this testimonial survey​, send us a job agency inquiry​, or simply call our hotline with your concerns.

Look forward to hearing from you.