ASU Unite Magazine Summer 23/24

ASU Unite Magazine Summer 23/24

In this issue Summer 23/24

2 Secretary’s Welcome A wrap up of the year that was.

3 ASU Campaigns An around the grounds of our current industrial and workplace campaigns.

4 Clock off & Switch off Find out about the ASU’s campaign for the right to disconnect.

5 Substituting Public Holidays Discover your rights when it comes to substituting a public holiday for a different date and the pitfalls to watch out for.

7 ASU Guide to Prevent and Respond to Sex Discrimination and Harassment How to use new legislation to tackle discrimination and harassment in your workplace.

ASU Poster Lift Out Add some union pride to your workplace.

14 APHEDA Study Tour We speak with ASU member Angela Bell about her recent Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA study tour.

17 CoPower Energy bills are rising and we’re taking the power back with our friends at CoPower.

18 Staffroom Quiz Grab your colleagues and gather round. Bragging rights are up for grabs.

Authorised Imogen Sturni, Branch Secretary, ASU Victorian Private Sector Branch, Level 2, 116 Queensberry St, Carlton South VIC 3053.

ABN: 15 278 369 860

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ASU UNITE MAGAZINE Secretary: Imogen Sturni Assistant Secretary: Cassie Farley President: David Leydon Contact us Phone | 03 9342 3300 Email | info@asupsvic.org Web | www.asuvic.org Office | 116 Queensberry St, Carlton 3053 Follow us facebook.com/asu.vic instagram.com/asu.vic tiktok.com/@asu.vic twitter.com/ASU_VICPS linkedin.com/company/asuvic-private-sector-union Notice: Your union is always looking at improving our operations. We have changed the provider who is processing membership fees to achieve cost effectiveness and efficiency. As a result the identifying number used by ASU Vic PS and the financial institutions has changed to Direct Entry User ID 502574.

Members will see no difference. You do not need to do anything. For your information.

With inflation remaining stubbornly high the only thing that seems to be outpacing the rising cost of essentials is record breaking profits by big business. This is a particularly bitter pill to swallow when companies like Commonwealth Bank announce $10.2b profits while so many families are struggling to survive under the weight of increasing mortgages and rent.

Members experience this firsthand as management cry poor offering below CPI wage offers at the bargaining table, at the same time as CEOs boast of record returns for shareholders.

Our primary focus will always be delivering better wages and conditions for our members. While we know people don’t join the union for discounts, we encourage everyone to make the most of all services our union has to offer and continue to focus on additional member services on programs providing hip-pocket savings. Union Shopper provides members with discounts on everyday essentials including 4% off groceries and 5% off petrol. We’ve also partnered with CoPower to provide members with savings on your electricity account (more on page 13).

We’ve been busy behind the scenes to improve your member experience kicking off with our new website to make it easier to stay up to date with the latest campaigns and events. We’re very pleased to bring you a new member portal in early 2024 – keep an eye out for further details.

Many ASU members continue to work around the clock throughout the Christmas period keeping our essential services operating. The ASU office will be closed from noon on 22 December and will reopen on 4 January 2024. If you’re working over this period and have an urgent situation requiring immediate assistance, please call 03 9342 3300 and follow the prompts. If your matter is not urgent, please email us at info@asupsvic.org and we will assist you as quickly as possible.

As we approach 2024, amidst the uncertainties that the world presents, we’re buoyed by the achievements of members across our union. From EBA firsts with the 4-day work week with full pay at Oxfam, life changing legislative changes such as the inclusion of paid Family and Domestic Violence leave in the NES, through to the member driven campaign for lasting peace in Palestine, we know how much can be achieved when members come together to win.

On behalf of everyone at the ASU, we wish you and your families a safe and healthy new year.

Imogen, ASU Branch Secretary

Thank you for your ongoing support.

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Campaigns over the year...

From 1 July, almost 3 million workers won a 5.75% pay rise through Award increases. A very special thank you to the many ASU members who got involved with our union’s Worth More at Work campaign which agitated for a meaningful increase to award wages.

Students studying Community Services Degrees are required to complete 1,000 hours of unpaid placements. That’s almost a third of a year, working full-time. These hours are compulsory and yet this work is not paid. All work should be paid and we’re calling for an end to unpaid placements.

We continue to Stand Up For Super with our campaign calling on the government to do more to close the gender retirement gap.

The introduction of paid super on all parental leave and pay day super must be introduced immediately to ensure more workers aren’t falling behind.

Unions have won new protections to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination and promote safer workplaces. All employers now must take action to prevent and stop harassment and discrimination, including a positive duty requiring them to proactively prevent sexual harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex. Workers can now seek orders to stop sexual harassment through the Fair Work Commission.

EBA negotiations continue to play a big role in our workplace activity, with many workplaces negotiating an agreement for the very first time in 2023. ASU members secured new agreements including at AaE, Apple, Civica, Dnata Passenger, Dnata Ramp & Cargo, Gordon Legal (first EBA), Greens – Victoria, Jetstar, Menzies Aviation, Nationwide Towing, Oxfam Australia (with a very special 4-day work week), Qantas mainline, Red Energy (not the outcome we wanted but a very first EBA and superstar group), Rex (offer with members), RSPCA, Virgin Australia (after successfully voting no to management’s first substandard offer).

Negotiations continue for several other ASU workgroups ranging from the commencement of negotiations through to workers on strike. Members at Serco TCS will shortly decide whether to commence protected action over the Christmas period after management failed to table an offer addressing dismal staff ratios and minimum hour contracts, a below inflation wage offer, work from home protections, and roster security.

Plus there’s plenty more to come in 2024.

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Work-life balance, unpaid overtime, contact after hours and understaffing are systemic issues for many Australian workers.

Across all ASU industries, members are experiencing the creep of work into their personal lives. Whether you’re contacted out of hours, checking emails when you wake, experiencing late notice changes to rosters, or being contacted on leave, the disruption to our personal lives can be immense.

It is vital that workers can switch off from work and be properly paid for their hours worked – that includes being paid to be available to respond to work-related calls and emails.

To launch the ‘Clock Off and Switch Off’ campaign for the Right to Disconnect, the ASU surveyed people working in professional clerical and administrative roles about their work/life balance and unpaid overtime.

We need the right to clock off and switch off to: Ensure limits around working times are fundamental for all workers.

End unpaid overtime.

Protect workers from negative consequences for refusing contact outside of working hours.

Safeguard people from being pressured to be constantly connected or available to their employers.

The right to disconnect is becoming a reality across the world – in countries including France, Spain, Canada, Argentina and Ireland.

We’re calling on the Government to act.

Find out more, calculate how much money you’re losing in unpaid overtime, and get involved in the campaign at: clockoffswitchoff.com.au/

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Substituting Public Holidays Many enterprise agreements and awards include a right for employees to ask to work on a public holiday and take another day as a substitute public holiday instead.

Now workers in the Not-For-Profit sector have also won the right to request to swap public holidays thanks to ASU members’ advocacy in this space. Under a new clause in the SCHADS Award you can opt to work on a public holiday and take another day off instead.

Remember, both you and your employer need to agree on the substitute day, but only you can initiate the swap.

You will be paid your normal rate of pay when you work on the original public holiday. If you’re asked to work on your substitute public holiday, you’ll earn public holiday rates.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you could ask to work and instead take time off to celebrate something important to your own cultural or religious background.

If you would prefer to work on 26 January, take another day off instead.

Recognising diverse cultural and social beliefs shapes more flexible and inclusive workplaces and exercise a workplace right.

The ASU is proud to have been at the forefront of pushing for modern and flexible entitlements that improve the lives of workers, such as progressive parental leave policies, a four-day work-week, the right to disconnect and the right to substitute public holidays.

If you have any questions about your entitlements and relevant award, contact the ASU office today.

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2024 PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

I

New Year's Day: Monday 1 January Australia Day: Friday 26 January Labour Day: Monday 11 March

PUBLIC

HOLIDAYS

Contact the ASU office for advice and support regarding public holiday penalty rates, substituting public holidays, and your rights regarding public holiday rosters.

ASU JOIN

Good Friday: Friday 29 March Saturday before Easter Sunday: Saturday 30 March Easter Sunday: Sunday 31 March Easter Monday: Monday 1 April ANZAC Day: Thurday 25 April King's Birthday: Monday 10 June Friday before AFL Grand Final: Friday 27 September TBC Melbourne Cup: Tuesday 5 November Christmas Day: Wednesday 25 December Boxing Day: Thursday 26 December

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS Victoria 2024 Term 1 Holidays (Autumn) 29 March - 14 April Term 2 Holidays (Winter) 29 June - 14 July

asuvic.org 03 9342 3300 info@asupsvic.org

Term 3 Holidays (Spring) 21 September - 6 October Term 4 Holidays (Summer) 21 December - 28 January 2025

Everyone deserves to feel safe and respected at work.

Unions have won new protections to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination and promote safer workplaces.

After years of campaigning in the workplace, at an industry level and advocating at a federal level, we’ve won better protections to end gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment at work.

All employers now must take action to prevent and stop harassment and discrimination.

It is no longer acceptable for employers to deal with discrimination and harassment after it becomes an issue.

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Together we’ve won: New protections to stop sexual harassment at work: employers will need to take active steps to make sure sexual discrimination doesn’t happen in the first place.

A positive duty on employers: requiring them to proactively prevent sexual harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex Stop Sexual Harassment orders: workers can now seek orders to stop sexual harassment through the Fair Work Commission (FWC).

Eliminating sex discrimination benefits businesses, workers and the Australian community. When individuals feel secure, respected, and are provided with equal opportunities in the workplace, they thrive, leading to the success of organisations and businesses.

In 2022, the Australian Government introduced two pivotal reforms: 1. Amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA), which introduces a positive duty on employers, requiring them to prevent sex discrimination and sexual harassment proactively. These changes align with other reforms under the Respect@Work Act. 2. Establishment of a new Fair Work Commission Jurisdiction to stop sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.

How can I enforce my rights?

Workers will now have the right to bring disputes about sexual harassment to the Fair Work Commission (FWC): The FWC can now make Stop Sexual Harassment Orders if there is a risk that sexual harassment will continue in the future The FWC can also take reasonable steps to resolve the dispute through mediation, conciliation or making recommendations If this doesn’t resolve the problem, the matter can be escalated to legal action in a court or, if the parties agree, arbitration by the FWC.

Our ASU workplace guide is designed to help you use new legislation to tackle discrimination and sexual harassment at your workplace.

Unions, employers and the government are all actively collaborating to ensure the effective implementation of these new laws, a testament to the power of collective action.

The guide focuses on the new rights and obligations within the federal Fair Work Act and Sex Discrimination Act exclusively. Additional rights and responsibilities are provided by state-based laws, particularly Equal Opportunity and OHS Acts.

A copy of ASU Workplace Guide to Prevent and Respond to Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment is available on our website: asuvic.org If you need support or information about how to stop sexual harrassment, contact us at: Phone: 03 9342 3300 Email: info@asupsvic.org Web asuvic.org If you are experiencing sexual violence you can contact: 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) for help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you are in immediate danger – call 000.

This will make combatting sexual harassment more accessible so that harmful behaviour is no longer swept under the rug.

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Remin

don’t forg your b

nder!

get to take breaks

Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA Study Tour Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA took 12 members to Timor-Leste for a week in August 2023 to visit its projects and meet with union leaders, women and farmers who are organising for change.

ASU member Angela Bell, consultant and not-for-profit interim CEO, was one of the participants.

Angela had long had an interest in joining an APHEDA study tour, wanting to experience workforces and industries that were different to those in Melbourne.

But when she was touring Timor-Leste – an island country only 21 years into its independence –meeting with union leaders, women and farmers who are organising for change, it instead made her contemplate the similarities.

“You think about all the different rights we are trying to get for women in the workplace now and look at it there and they are trying to achieve it for the first time at that very fundamental grassroots stage,” she says.

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“In Australia we are at a different stage, but we are all still fighting to make things better – the right to work free from sexual harassment, the right to be paid a minimum wage and not be undercut, and the right to have a contract that’s honoured.

“In that way it was all incredibly similar, and you can’t take any of that for granted.”

Ange first learnt about APHEDA through her job at the ASU, where she previously worked in media and communications and joined as a member in 2008. She now works as a consultant with a focus on the community sector and is currently an interim CEO for a not-for-profit organisation, but she has remained an ASU member and monthly donor to APHEDA for the past 15 years.

In Timor-Leste, she was led by Elisabeth Lino de Araujo, a former journalist, human rights defender and activist who has worked as APHEDA’s Country Manager for 18 years.

“To see the work she is doing over there through APHEDA – the connections she has to the farmers, the women workers, union leaders and politicians – to advocate for workers is really impressive,” Ange says.

“It’s about really practical support to help workers. You obviously want to support things at home, and locally, but I’ve also always valued contribution overseas.”

The group met with women from the Working Women’s Centre – who recently successfully campaigned to establish a national minimum wage for domestic workers – and visited farmers on projects outside Dili, who are organising themselves into unions to address an insecure food system, climate change and high importing costs. They also met with Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao at Government Palace, who paid tribute to the union movement and their support for Timor-Leste’s independence.

“I really recommend looking into the work APHEDA does. It’s a great other part of the union movement to contribute to,” she says.

Live your union values, live your solidarity!

The work of building global solidarity depends upon the contributions of thousands of Australian union members and Internationalists. To help build the power of social movements and workers globally, join Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA. Find out more or donate at: apheda.org.au

Prime Minister of Timor-Leste Xanana Gusmão in his Services Union tshirt.

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ASU member benefits Union Shopper Save on everyday items including groceries & petrol or access discounts from some of the biggest retailers.

Get $50 off your next electricity bill Save on your next electricity bill and change the system at the same time with CoPower.

Free online wills and savings on legal services Access your free online will with Slater + Gordon or discounts on a rage of legal services.

Discounts on First Aid Courses We’ve partnered with the Red Cross to provide members with up to 50% off first aid courses.

Free ASU Career Launchpad Training Expand your knowledge, get ahead for your next career move, or learn a new skill with free and exclusive online training. asuvic.org | 03 9342 3300 info@asupsvic.org

FIND OUT MORE

Energy bills are rising and we’re taking the power back Why Now? In a world where corporations wield disproportionate power, CoPower is an important way you can shift the balance. As corporate profits soar workers and our environment face increasing challenges.

As the temperature and electricity bills soars, so does our determination grow to break the stranglehold of corporate giants dictating our energy choices. It's time to wield your electricity bill as a tool for change and build power for the people.

The ASU co-owns CoPower, an electricity cooperative challenging the dominance of profit-hungry corporations. Over 4,000 households have already made the switch, standing united to reclaim control.

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2023 is set to be the hottest year on record and we are bracing ourselves for the El Nino summer ahead. Right now, world leaders are preparing to travel to the United Arab Emirates for the annual UN Climate Change negotiation. This meeting is presided over by Sultan Al Jaber who is also the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil company, a corporation that has some of the largest plans for expansion of gas and oil in the world. [1] Last year’s UN climate change negotiation in Egypt saw a record 663 fossil fuel lobbyists participate! This is a stark reminder of the corporate influence putting our future at risk.

[1] Cop28 host UAE has world’s biggest climate-busting oil plans, data indicates | Cop28 | The Guardian

Your Power, Your Say Every CoPower customer member has an equal say in directing 100% of its electricity revenue. Your electricity bill becomes a tool for positive change – supporting fair wages for workers, community owned renewable energy, and programs to help you save energy and make your home more comfortable.

Take Action – Switch to CoPower!

CoPower is an important way you can start breaking free from corporate dominance. We've earned a top 5 rating on the Green Electricity guide by Greenpeace, and we will never increase our electricity rates for profit.

By choosing CoPower, you're not just changing electricity providers; you're becoming part of a movement building a democratic cooperative that puts power back where it belongs – in the hands of the people.

Ready to make a difference?

Head to the CoPower website and let’s take the power back! Switching only takes a few minutes and is as easy as heading to: cooperativepower.org.au/switch/

CoPower are offering ASU members an exclusive $50 sign-on credit when you switch your home’s electricity to CoPower. This offer is available to the first 100 members to switch.

Once you have switched to CoPower claim your exclusive union member $50 sign-on credit by emailing hello@cooperativepower.org.au with the following details: 1.The name of the electricity account holder 2.Your address 3.Email of the account holder 4.Your union name The $50 credit will then be applied to your bill.

Quiz 1. What was the percentage increase to Award wages in 2023?

2. Who replaced Alan Joyce as Qantas CEO? 3. What will the super guarantee percentage increase to from 1 July 2024?

4. Where will the 2024 Olympics be held?

5. Which country won’t go to election in 2024? USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Ukraine, India.

6. Who is the SAG-AFTRA President?

7. In what year is the federal paid parental leave (PPL) scheme set to increase to 26 weeks?

8. Which year is set to become the hottest on record?

9. How many years of continuous service do you need to complete before being able to request LSL in Victoria?

10. Which city is home to the oldest continuously operating union bulding in the world?

Answers: 1. 5.75%, 2. Vanessa Hudson, 3. 11.5%, 4. Paris, France, 5. Trick question - they all are, 6. Fran Drescher/The Nanny, 7. 2026 (although they should really start paying super on it now too!), 8. 2023, 9. 7 years, 10. Melbourne - Victorian Trades Hall Council.

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Stay in touch Email | info@asupsvic.org Phone | 03 9342 3300 www.asuvic.org