The ACTU executive met in Merimbula last month and hosted a fundraiser while it was there for bushfire-affected union members, raising $25,000.
“When we saw the extraordinary impact the bushfire crisis had on workers, their families and communities here on the south coast we thought one of the things we could do was to bring our executive out of the capital city and into this community to show our solidarity and support,” ACTU President Michele O’Neil told the Merimbula News.
She said the ACTU was determined that workers impacted by the fires were not forgotten.
“We’re concerned about the level of the DRA (Disaster Recovery Allowance) that is available for workers who have lost work as a result of the fires. It is obscenely low – $40 a day,” she said.
“We’ve been calling on the government to increase this to the level of the minimum wage since January but it has not listened to that yet. It’s essential that workers have money in their pockets. It’s good for them and the economy if they have money to live on.”