In what unions are calling a win for all Tasmanian workers, listed Canadian-owned food giant Saputo has after 20 weeks of industrial action agreed to a 21.7% pay rise for maintenance employees at its Burnie cheese plant.
A Melbourne rally in support of the CFMEU's construction division heard today that "three or four" legal challenges at federal and state level are expected against laws putting its branches into administration, as a part of a multi-year campaign.
Ahead of the October 26 State election, Queensland unions are set to launch a campaign today to lift the current public sector parental leave entitlement of 15 weeks to 18 weeks, plus an extra eight weeks for workers with five years service.
Unions have called for a consumer boycott of cheeses made by Canadian-owned food giant Saputo, as they push for pay parity between a group of Tasmanian maintenance workers and their mainland counterparts.
The AWU has abandoned a long history of going it alone in Queensland, re-affiliating with the State's peak union body, while the Mining and Energy Union has also returned to the fold after a shorter absence.
The MEU has filed 10 "same-job, same-pay" applications targeting BHP coal mines in Queensland, seeking to lift the pay of about 1700 labour hire workers by between $10,000 and $40,000 a year and stamp out a model that has "spread like a cancer" in the industry.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has declared "it's time” for unions to jettison their three-decades-old defensive stance and boldly take advantage of Labor’s IR law reforms to rebuild membership.
