National Union of Workers

New Campaign Campaigns

• Meet the farm workers that grow Smorgon's profits

  Workers at Perfection Fresh in Two Wells, South Australia - the largest tomato glasshouse in the southern hemisphere - come from many nations and speak more than 20 languages. These hard working people have many ideas on how to make your glasshouse the best in the world. In return, they are asking Perfection Fresh to commit to providing secure jobs and a fair wage increase to help workers and their families have a decent life in Australia. Since February workers have been negotiating in good faith with local management for a new workplace agreement. They have listened to management's concerns. They have made proposals and suggestions and amended their original claims in the spirit of fair negotiation. They have continued to patiently listen, but now workers feel stuck on a one way street. Local management will not commit to basic claims from workers, which will improve their lives significantly. More than 230 people at Perfection Fresh have worked full time hours for more than 12 months, planting, twisting, pruning, picking and packing the tomatoes that go to Coles and Woolworths. But still they are employed as casuals. Only 70 workers have secure full time jobs. Perfection Fresh has received millions of dollars from the South Australian government to support the expansion of the glasshouse. In 2015, the company pledged to create 150 full time jobs – two years later, these jobs have not materialised. Many workers came to Australia as refugees and are trying to start a new life after experiencing war, persecution or conflict. As casual workers, taking unpaid leave to visit their family overseas is a scary thing because there is no guarantee there will be a job for them when they get back. This means some workers have not seen their children in more than 5 years. Workers have been told that they will not be paid above the minimum wage. They are told they only deserve the lowest wage in Australia. That is the value of their contribution and hard work. Workers believe they deserve more respect. Most of what they are asking for will not cost the company money but will deliver some certainty in workers' lives. Peter, without your involvement workers are worried that their concerns and ideas will continue to fall on deaf ears. You have the power to make Perfection Fresh the best employer in the industry. Please come and meet with us in Two Wells, South Australia.

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  Respect our reps! Reinstate Henare!

  A job you can count on is important to everyone in our community. Every worker should be treated with respect and be able to speak up for union rights and a fair deal. Henare, one of our delegates at Lite n' Easy, has been stood down from work and asked to leave immediately with no written reasons. This happened only 2 days after standing up for a fair pay rise. Members are hard-working, but would struggle to afford the products that the company make without a fair pay rise. As a company focused on family, and healthy living, Lite n' Easy management have put undue stress on Henare and his family. Members' rights to stand up for a fair deal should be respected, and it is unacceptable that workers are intimidated for working collectively. We work so we can plan a life for ourselves and our families, and make contributions to our communities. We all need a job we can count on to do this. Having worked at Lite n' Easy for 5 years, Henare's a valuable member of the team and active NUW Delegate. To restore faith in the pay negotiation process, it's important that Henare is immediately reinstated and that further targeting and attacks on staff for speaking up stop!

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  Send an SOS to Asahi

  A secure, permanent job in regional Australia means a lot. It means you can apply for a home loan, start a family, send the kids to university or just plan a holiday once in a while. A secure permanent job in regional Australia means you can put down roots and start planning a future. In fact, secure, permanent jobs are essential for regional communities to survive and flourish. The Albury-Wodonga community embraced multi-national Asahi setting up a factory in their region three years ago. But now, over 50 % of workers at Asahi in Albury-Wodonga are still stuck in insecure casual work. Many of these casual workers have been loyal to Asahi for over two years. It is time for Asahi to show some loyalty back to these workers and to the Albury-Wodonga community by providing 40 workers with permanent jobs. Workers at the Asahi factory in Albury-Wodonga are currently negotiating their new workplace agreement. Casual workers at Asahi want to live with less stress and want to feel valued at work. That's why a key claim in negotiations is 40 new permanent jobs for casual workers at Asahi. You can support them by sending a letter to the Asahi Group CEO in Japan to help build support for these regional workers. When casual workers were asked how a permanent job would improve their lives, they said: “I could apply for a home loan”, “start a family”, “put kids through university” or just “go on a family holiday”. A permanent job means you are “valued at work” and “less stressed” at home. Importantly, a permanent job will allow workers to put down roots and start planning a future in Albury-Wodonga. Use this message to send your letter. You might want to personalise the letter; maybe you live in the region, or you have also experienced casual work, maybe you know one of the workers - there may be a number of reasons that this is important to you - add your own message and let Asahi headquarters know why they should ensure 40 new permanent jobs in Albury-Wodonga.

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  Give me my job back

  I’ve been a loyal worker in Kmart’s Truganina Distribution Centre for over two and a half years. Even though I was engaged through a labour-hire company as a casual, the work was regular and reliable. I get on well with my co-workers and manager, and have never had any problems or disciplinary issues at work. I am in my 50s, with a family and the regular work at Kmart has meant a lot to me because it can be hard for older workers to find employment. I thought that after years of hard work and good service this was a steady job and I organised with Kmart to take my first holiday in years, even though I knew this was unpaid because I’m a casual. After my well-earned break, which was approved by my employer, I did not hear from Kmart about shifts. When I called them, I was shocked to be told there was no more work and that I would need to return my security pass. When I tried to find out why, I was told that there was no more work, even though since that time Kmart has engaged a number of new casual labour-hire employees in roles I could easily be performing. I want to go back to work at Kmart. 200 of my co-workers have already signed a petition on site to ask Kmart to bring me back to work, but the company has refused to listen to them. Because of my status as an agency casual, I am left in a legal limbo – despite my service I have no legal claim to reinstatement, even though I have been sacked for taking a holiday, which would be illegal if it happened to a permanent worker. This has left me feeling stressed, has been hard on my family and I just want to go back to work at Kmart.

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  Justice for Empire Rubber workers!

  NUW members in Bendigo recently won a protracted legal case to get entitlements they were owed paid to them following the collapse of Empire Rubber in 2006. However of the $4.5 million win, workers will never see a cent. Nothing. All because corporate law firms are swallowing the win up in fees. LCM Litigation Fund Pty Ltd and Piper Alderman have pocketed 91% of the win, $4.1 million dollars, while their clients have been told they will never see any money and there is nothing they can do. NUW member and former Empire Rubber worker Shane Hogan is owed $15,000. His wife Tracy has said that “To get a letter saying that it’s all been eaten up in fees is very disappointing.” “A lot of people who were laid off did not gain employment afterwards, so they were really relying on getting that money”. Members refuse to accept this gross denial of justice. We are calling on Piper Alderman to waive their fees and give their clients the money they have won. The Law Institute of Victoria’s code of ethics calls for lawyers to “advance their clients’ interests above their own” and to “charge fairly for their work”. Clearly Piper Alderman have failed in their ethical obligations to NUW members at Empire Rubber. In pocketing the cash and failing to meet ethical standards, Piper Alderman undermines the integrity of the justice system to serve the needs of workers. Piper Alderman and LCM Litigation Fund: give workers their money back so justice is closer to being served!

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  Stop ripping off charity fundraisers!

  Most charities contract with private companies to raise funds over the phone or face to face in the streets. Oftentimes, these private companies engage workers as sham contractors as a way of avoiding the legal responsibilities they owe to their employees. This means fundraising workers can end up working full-time hours while taking home nothing or next to nothing in pay at the end of a week. This isn’t fair. The charities who engage these private fundraising companies have the power to fix this problem. They have the power to fix up their contracting chain and make sure their fundraising workers are paid legally.

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  Justice for Wayne Fowlie

  Companies are meant to pay super payments into either default funds or employees nominated super funds 4 times a year. Norseman Gold PLC did not pay Wayne Fowlie's super payment into his super fund for a year. The result of this was that when Wayne died he did not have life insurance which is a standard part of most Super arrangements including Wayne's. Norseman Gold did the wrong thing, they lied to Wayne, his payslips said that the company was paying his super entitlements. Yet a judge recently decided that Norseman Gold PLC were not liable. Wayne's family not only lost a husband and father after he was killed in a mining accident but then also had to deal with the cost of the companies treachery. Its not right and Norseman Gold should do the right thing and pay out the entitlement of the life insurance policy.

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  Created by Syed Kazmi
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  Stop stealing money from Working Holiday Makers!

  We are Eden and Ula. We came to Australia on Working Holiday Visas. We wanted to travel this beautiful country, have new experiences, make new friends and work along the way to help pay for our trip. We loved Australia so much that we wanted to stay for a second year and saw a regional job going at a zucchini farm in Bowen, Queensland through a labour hire contractor called AZIT. We had to fill out many forms and there were lots of conditions for us to be employed as casual labourers. We also had to pay the contractor $800 each before we could start work. The work never came. The contractor gave excuses about the weather. When we decided to look elsewhere for work, we asked for our money back. The contractor refused and told us we could take him to Fair Work. Now, with the help of our union the NUW, we are campaigning to get our money back and put an end to dodgy labour hire contractors ripping off workers. AZIT exploited the fact that we didn't have a good understanding of workplace rights in Australia and now has stolen hundreds of dollars. How many others have they stolen money from? We are taking a stand for all workers who are exploited in Australia. Workers should join the union and the campaign to stop the rip offs, wage theft and exploitation.

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  It's nuts!: Select Harvests workers fight to protect their jobs.

  We work at Select Harvests, Australia’s largest nut processing company. We make products you’ve probably bought at the supermarket like Lucky’s nuts and Sunsol Muesli. Our co-workers, who are employed through a labour hire company, face an anxious and uncertain future. 
 In April this year, Select Harvests announced that they would be changing labour hire providers. Usually when companies change providers of casual labour, they get those workers who currently operate the plant to sign up with the new labour hire provider, to ensure continuity of employment and production. This year, Select Harvests told workers that they would have to reapply for their jobs, which they have done for years. Many employees have been told they were unsuccessful in applying for their own job. They are devastated. This decision means that many workers we have worked alongside for years might not be back on Monday, all because of a decision by the company to change labour hire providers. 
 We are fighting for our members at Select Harvests who have been affected by this decision. All workers deserve respect and consultation on matters that affect their lives and their families. 
 The clock is ticking for these workers at Select Harvests, with the possibility of joining a Centrelink queue as a result of a corporate administrative decision. It is not fair for our hard-working co-workers to be treated like this.

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  Support Zerella workers

  Workers at Zerella work hard in tough conditions to produce the 250 tons of carrots plus other vegetables that go straight to Woolworths every week. Workers joined the union after finally getting rid of labour hire contractors that were paying them less than the minimum wage. Now Zerella workers want to negotiate a union workplace agreement, and have signed up to say so. Workers are taking their legal right to join a union and collectively bargain for a workplace agreement. People around Australia, many who shop at Woolworths every week, will not stand for intimidation. People around Australia will stand for human rights and decent workplaces.

  650 of 800 Signatures

  Created by National Union of Workers