Issues

These are some of the pressing issues affecting Australian workers and their families, workplaces and industry - which unions have expressed concern about and have developed policies or passed resolutions on:


  Balancing work and family life is essential for the wellbeing of our whole community and yet it is a balancing act that is becoming increasingly difficult.  
  Recognising that for many workers retirement incomes are still inadequate, the ACTU is campaigning for a lift in employer superannuation contributions from the current minimum of 9% to 12% by 2012.  
  Unions are strongly committed to promoting equality in the workplace and in the broader society for Indigenous Australians, and promote the active participation of Indigenous peoples in trade unions.  
  Australian unions believe that working life should be enjoyable and that it should give people the satisfaction of using their skills to the fullest measure, and making a contribution to the common good.  
  Unions believe that all workers in Australia, no matter where they’re from, should have equal rights to decent pay and conditions and be treated fairly at work.  
  Unions have campaigned for decades about the dangers of asbestos and have successfully helped secure long term compensation for people affected by asbestos-related disease.