The Flight Attendants' Association has moved a step closer to re-uniting its two divisions, despite the continued opposition of some disaffected long-haul members.
The ACTU is seeking to build opposition to cutting weekend penalty rates through a mass door-knock in marginal seats across Australia in mid-September, while employer associations are pushing crossbench senators to back the Government's bill to re-establish the ABCC.
The NSW secretary of the firefighters' union, Jim Casey, has survived a challenge by just 11 votes after only 31% of eligible members voted in an election that was declared yesterday.
Confirming this afternoon that he will run against ACTU secretary Dave Oliver at the peak body's May Congress, assistant secretary Tim Lyons said that unions needed to stop defining themselves by what they opposed and become the champion of the nation's working people.
The secretary of the HSU's Victoria No 1 branch, Diana Asmar, has been returned with a resounding majority, but still faces scrutiny over the branch's alleged failure to follow procedures for issuing entry permits to organisers.
The first female secretary of the RTBU's Victorian branch, Luba Grigorovitch, is set to lead a ticket in next month's union elections, after the Federal Court rejected a rival faction's challenge to her candidacy.
