09/07/2021
CUPUW stands in solidarity with hospitality workers who deserve full access to and control of their union. The introduction of a tiered membership model to Hospo Voice, in which workers must pay $79 a month to access an organiser or industrial officer, is severely detrimental to the organising of hospitality workers in Australia. In the NTEU, a worker would need to be earning $94,800 to pay $79 a month. Given Hospo Voice seeks to represent some of the most vulnerable and lowest paid workers in Australia, such a fee is absurd.
This model demonstrates one of the most egregious forms of servicing/advocacy unionism, wherein a small number of people are employed to do communications and marketing for campaigns and members are encouraged to see union membership as job insurance - rather than big, inclusive solidarity building and member recruitment that we so desperately need.
As casual, precarious and unemployed university workers, we've seen first-hand what happens when a union fails to centre the needs of the most vulnerable and lowest paid workers. This experience has taught us that we have more in common with a barista on campus than a permanently employed professor.
Unions need better approaches to organise transient, insecure and low paid workers. This starts with the meaningful inclusion of those workers into the core of union business. All workers need unions that are rank-and-file controlled, that facilitate member organising, and that are democratic, transparent, and materially inclusive.
You can access the member petition here:
A few days ago Hospo Voice launched a new, tiered membership system, in which members pay different fees to access different services. We -- as members of Hospo Voice, hospitality workers and proud unionists -- condemn this new model of membership as anti-union and an all-round s**t idea. We stand b...
