The USU/ASU is calling on the Government to intervene in the jobs crisis engulfing our airports. Employers are adopting aggressive industrial strategies, which have reduced job security and conditions for the workforce, and poor customer experiences and safety concerns.  

Your union is maximising our opportunities to win regulatory change. Last week, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Catherine King MP, met with industry, airports and unions, including your Assistant National Secretary, Emeline Gaske, for a roundtable on jobs and skills in aviation. It was a key opportunity to influence the Government’s policy on aviation, and your union argued for the Government to take an active role in ending the race to the bottom in working conditions in airlines and ground handlers.

This week, your National Secretary, Robert Potter, is attending the Prime Minister’s Jobs and Skills Summit.

The summit will cover issues that impact your working life, such as:

  1. Maintaining full employment and growing productivity.
  2. Boosting job security and wages.
  3. Lifting participation and reducing barriers to employment.
  4. Delivering a high-quality labour force through skills, training and migration.
  5. Maximising opportunities in the industries of the future.

Your union will advocate for much-needed structural change in our industrial relations system to address issues such as job security and fair wage growth. Any changes to Australia’s industrial relations system should correct the power imbalance between workers and the airlines so that workers can get a fair deal and keep providing excellent service to the travelling public.

The USU/ASU will use every opportunity to improve your working lives, from on-the-ground campaigns to influencing government policy; we will be there.

Pass this bulletin to your colleagues who aren’t in the union. They can join at www.usu.org.au/join

If you need to know more please ring our USU Support Team on 1300 136 604 or contact your USU Organiser Thomas Russell here.