Keep EAS up to date

By Dean Summers, ITF National Coordinator

The union's Employment Assistance Scheme (EAS) has been enormously successful in supplying the industry with reliable, consistent and up to date information about the availability of qualified workers to employers

Since the Howard Government's attack on industry employment EAS has developed into a valuable tool for qualified members of the union to secure work. We make no apologies for EAS being available only to financial MUA members but everyone, including members, staff and branches, must support it.

One of the more effective ways to advertise the system comes from requests from ships to have a generic "minutes books" available. These can be sourced from the branches and include the following preamble to remind us all of our obligations and rights regarding EAS:

"The Employment Assistance Scheme is an electronic, web-based system developed by the MUA to accommodate our members seeking employment. It is now an integral part of our industry, and needs to be constantly supported by all members. It can only remain a reliable system if the information is updated regularly. All levels of the union have a role to play in the running of the system.

"Members must continue to update EAS regarding their employment status both when they get a job, and again when they become available for work.

"Branches will continue to monitor and update the system when they are informed of a member becoming available/ unavailable, when a member is placed in a job, and when new trainees come into the industry.

"EAS is accessed through a link on our website, www.mua.org.au, and is accessible 24 hours a day. To be able to use EAS, you will need to contact your branch to obtain a username and a password; the password can be changed at first logon."

EAS supports our ability to place members into employment. It is essential that all members take the time to keep it accurate and updated, so that it can remain the only reliable source of employment information to the industry.