The ACTU will increase its focus on campaigning during elections, following a vote on the issue at the triennial ACTU Congress in Melbourne.
The $13 million plan will effectively transform the ACTU into a permanent campaigning organisation. It will campaign online, on the ground, politically and in the workplace on specific issues that matter to working people and that fit under a new union charter launched at the Congress.
ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver (pictured) said that this will be a permanent change to the organisation that will help it coordinate both large national campaigns and union or seat specific campaigns.
“We’ll be campaigning online, on the ground, politically and in the workplace. We’ll be having one-one conversation with members and the community about the issues that matter to them – whether it’s jobs, health and education or a secure retirement,” Oliver said.
ACTU polling released on Monday in the six key marginal seats of Corangamite (Vic), Page (NSW), Hindmarsh (SA), Leichhardt (Qld), Braddon (Tas) and Swan (WA) showed the majority of Coalition voters in those seats did not believe the Abbott Government had a plan to create jobs in their area.