With the next round of negotiations for the Union Collective Agreement coming up soon, delegates at the Public Transport Authority (PTA) have been working with our organising staff to build a strong union to support the negotiations. All of our ASU organisers, including our two South West organisers, joined together to meet workers at the PTA over two days in August.  We walked through work areas, stopping to chat with members and non-members about the upcoming negotiations and how the Howard Government's WorkChoices legislation has fundamentally changed the most basic underpinning protections to the disadvantage of employees.

We spoke with 162 PTA staff over two days and many workers decided to become union as a result.

ASU delegates, Warren de Prazer and Mudji Neilsen helped us to put in place our workplace visit to ensure it was a success.  "Even though the Howard Government's WorkChoices legislation has made it harder for workers to get a fair deal at work, being unionised, organised and having a Union Collective Agreement is still the best protection you can have" says Warren. 

A lot of employees did not realise that their agreement was expiring so soon and would need to be renegotiated.  Members were also concerned about the prospect of the Howard Government being re-elected and the possibility of even more agressive anti-worker laws.

Our organisers also found that many members had concerns about rosters, their pay and allowances and other workplace issues.  Many of these issues will be taken up with management to ensure that people can be confident they are getting all their proper entitlements at work.

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