News Article

We had an ETU member take up an Internal Adult Apprenticeship at a local council. Custom and practice at this council was that workers maintain their wage when they start an adult apprenticeship.

A grubby manager decided that our member was to drop back to the award rate and it resulted in a $400 per week loss. Organiser Dan McGaw lobbied and campaigned hard for 10 weeks and we had a fantastic win for our member yesterday.

After talk of going to the media about the display of obvious prejudice, the manager rapidly went back on their decision and agreed to maintain the member's wage.

The Council agreed to maintain our members' wage and not only that, but they would also back-pay him from his commencement date.

If it wasn't for the worker being a union member, he would have worked 4 years of his apprenticeship on $400 per less.

The member texted Dan after the matter was settled:

“This has literally changed my life. Leading in Christmas my partner and I were under serious financial stress, now we can breathe. I couldn’t of done it without the ETU. Dan was relentless on this for me and I can’t thank him enough. Just goes to show how important it is to be a part of a Union that fights for their members.”

We need to stand up to bullying in the workplace. It’s a disgrace that a manager on $300k + per year can make decisions that can ruin a young worker. Thankfully, the CEO saw reason, and fairness was restored.

It pays to be union. It pays to be ETU.