Together is a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

covering workers in the public and private sectors in the state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The largest areas of coverage is the state public sector, including clinical and administrative staff in

Queensland Health Queensland Health is the public health system in Queensland, Australia, comprising sixteen statutory Hospital and Health Services (HHS), the Department of Health and Queensland Ambulance Service. Each HHS provides health services to its local ...

, state schools and

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

institutes, the Department of Communities and other departments. Other areas of coverage include universities (general staff),

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

employees, private clinical

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

services, private and not-for-profit healthcare providers, and clerical and administrative staff across a range of industries. Together is a branch of the

Australian Services Union The Australian Services Union (formally registered as the Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union) is a trade union representing workers in a variety of industries. The ASU is affiliated with the Australian Council ...

, and members of Together are also members of the ASU at a federal level.

History

Together was created in July 2011 as an amalgamation of the Queensland Public Sector Union and the Australian Services Union (Central and Southern Queensland) Branch. The union is registered within the state industrial relations jurisdiction as Together and in the

federal system Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, states, cantons, territories, etc.), while dividing the powers o ...

as ASU/AMACSU.

Union structure

Union Conference is Together's peak decision making body. Every four years the

Electoral Commission of Queensland The Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) is established under the ''Electoral Act 1992'' as an independent statutory authority, responsible for the impartial conduct of state and local government elections in Queensland. Functions The Commi ...

holds elections for Conference delegates. Each delegate represents members in their agency to ensure all members have their say in their union. Union Conference meets four times a year.

Past campaigns

The QPSU has been involved in the

Your Rights at Work WorkChoices was the name given to changes made to the federal industrial relations laws in Australia by the Howard government#Fourth term: 2004–2007, Howard government in 2005, being amendments to the ''Workplace Relations Act 1996'' by the '' ...

campaign. The QPSU has also had campaigns specifically targeting Queensland government departments, including Queensland Department of Health, Queensland Department of Child Safety and Queensland Department of Disability Services.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official websiteTwitter profileFacebook profile
2011 establishments in Australia Trade unions affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions Trade unions established in 2011 Trade unions in Queensland