ACTU Congress 2024
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 127 No 5, 19 July 2024, page 23.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Congress 2024 was held in Adelaide (in person for the first time since 2018) and came at a significant time for the union movement and society at large.
The world is shifting. People want change, and they see how essential unions are in creating a more just and equal society for all. This year’s theme reflects the nature of our times: winning for working people, action on climate change, technological progress and the challenges that emerge from it. Here is what the QTU delegation had to say.
Gender equality – Ren Johnstone
Women now expect and need to work for the majority of their lives, with career progression. Many things can be done to accommodate this shift in the workforce.
By 2026, 26 weeks paid parental leave will be the norm in Australia, although it will still leave us in the bottom third in the world (the global norm is currently 52 weeks). Reproductive leave also helps this shift.
ACTU Women’s Caucus – Shelley Gardner
The ACTU Women’s Caucus was chaired by AEU President Correna Haythorpe, along with additional guest speakers. Jo Kerr, an Indigenous Australian who works in the Community & Public Sector Union and sits on the ACTU Executive, announced three current priorities.
- To change the definition of “family” to include “kinship” and for this to become part of the National Employment Standard.
- For cultural and ceremonial leave to become part of the National Employment Standard.
- To combat racism and have it included as a psychosocial hazard.
Jo also stated that First Nations priorities should be included in bargaining agreements, with cultural load taken into consideration.
Do workers have enough and the right types of leave? – Gill Crotty
Delegates considered reproductive health leave and cultural and ceremonial leave in the context of national employment standards.
Kate Marshall, from the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU), told the story of her union’s groundbreaking pursuit of reproductive health leave. Sharlene Leroy-Dyer from the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) spoke about cultural and ceremonial leave and the importance of representative committees of Aboriginal and Torres Strait members within unions to progress such provisions.
LGBTIQ+ Caucus – Joel Hanlon
The QTU and AEU are pioneers in this space. There is clearly more work to be done, however, particularly in blue collar unions, whose identifying members can feel isolated and under-represented in workplaces where basic rights such as psychosocial safety are not a priority and where a supportive culture for LGBTIQ+ members is not important.
Regional Caucus – Joel Hanlon
We discussed a range of issues, including the fact that we are the engine room of Australia, and in some states, the primary sources of revenue and jobs. We discussed the unique challenges of organising in areas where members are isolated and disconnected, and where employees of unions need to travel long distances to ensure representation.
Organising with an intersectional lens – Joel Hanlon
The United Workers Union (UWU) showcased its work on training members on racism in the workplace. At the NTEU, work with First Nations’ members achieved recognition of the cultural knowledge they carry and won allowances for this. The Transport Workers Union (TWU) organised members employed by Hungry Panda, an Uber-like gig company that sacked workers when their ratings were below a certain level. This encouraged workers to take risks to ensure deliveries were made on-time, which has led to unsafe work practices and deaths.
WHS Education in the Workplace – Joel Hanlon
Representatives from the Comunity and Public Sector Union (CPSU) discussed how members at Centrelink had been organised to address safety issues, including having no smoke alarms in their buildings. Representatives from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) and the ACTU discussed education and the election of HSRs.
Workshop: Disinformation and combatting the far right – Genevieve Pearson
Van Badham explained that “disinformation” is a deliberate strategy to pollute and corrupt information channels with false information for political reasons. Further, organised campaigns work to create, deliver, amplify, and echo false information in order to weaken opponents and sow chaos.
Luke Hilakari from the Victorian Council of Trade Unions shared the following statistics.
- Less than half of Australians are confident they can identify disinformation online.
- Disinformation is being monetised - a quarter of a billion dollars funds disinformation websites through Google Ads.
- Four out of 5 Australians report having seen disinformation, and two-thirds say it was via social media.