We are putting the following reasons forward in support for our case for a YES vote:
- This amalgamation is about making three strong unions even stronger – as every amalgamation in our Union’s history has done. We are a history of amalgamations that has made the new union stronger at every stage
- We will be uniting our shared traditions and cultures into a powerhouse union, making us capable of protecting and advancing our industrial, social and political rights and interests into the future
- Increasingly the union is negotiating with big multinational corporations and/or campaigning against a Conservative government’s anti-union laws and to take them on we need to become stronger, get more powerful and become even better and more effective at what we do.
- We will be bringing together significant combined resources (campaigning, financial, legal, political, membership etc) to continue providing members with the best Union representation in this country
- The MUA will retain our autonomy but be strengthened by the industrial and financial resources of the combined MUA/CFMEU/TCFUA.
- Through amalgamation we build greater capacity in new ways to fight against Government initiated legislative attacks as well as corporate assaults on our job security, conditions of employment and quality of life
- This amalgamation is about redefining the nature of trade unionism to take on the new challenges that the new economy is presenting
- Employers are opposing it because they know it will mean better job security and improved pay and conditions for members.
Key Facts on the Amalgamation:
- The MUA will become a new division of the amalgamated union – The MUA Division
- The MUA will retain our autonomy of our affairs and decision making but have increased resources, ensuring we can continue to provide our members with the representation they deserve
- The MUA will retain it current assets and finances and retain responsibility for the financial affairs of the MUA division
- The current MUA rules and election processes of the MUA will remain the same in the new Union - as they currently do with the Construction, Mining and Forestry divisions now
- This is not about losing the MUAs identity, but about preserving and advancing it through a better resourced, more influential and organised Union.
- Union dues remain the same for our members and all Branches will continue to exist and operate as they are.
- As a Union grows, in this case through amalgamation, it has access to greater resources. This does not just refer to money but to staff, knowledge, and most critically - an active and larger membership.
- Government and Big Business are opposing the merger because we will be more powerful and effective at what we do.
- Critics and vested interests want our members to vote no. We say VOTE YES for a stronger and more powerful union for workers.
- A YES vote is the right thing to support given that the Government and Employers have come together so aggressively to try and stop it.
