{"id":76134,"date":"2026-01-01T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/?p=76134"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:53:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T00:53:55","slug":"celebrating-wins-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/blog\/celebrating-wins-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating wins of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"76134\" class=\"elementor elementor-76134\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1e02b64 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"1e02b64\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e8e489a sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"e8e489a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-1024x576.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-76136\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-600x338.png 600w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-370x208.png 370w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-1170x658.png 1170w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-770x433.png 770w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025-270x152.png 270w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2025.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-86e48dd sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"86e48dd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">2025 was another massive year for United Workers Union members<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f876795 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"f876795\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c7275bd sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c7275bd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Looking back over the year, we&#8217;ve stood together and achieved some solid wins across all our industries. As members, we can be very proud of our determination, energy and collective spirit throughout another year of campaigning, taking action and negotiating for better workplaces.<\/strong><\/p><p>Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve achieved together:<\/p><ul><li>Won over $11 million in wages and backpay for members<\/li><li>Finalised over 600 workplace agreements<\/li><li>Assisted 1000s of members in individual workplace matters<\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">But as a union that covers over 45 industries, we\u2019ve had a lot of action \u2013 and a lot of wins. Here\u2019s a look back at some of the highlights from 2025.<\/span><\/p><h4>Bargaining and industrial action<\/h4><p>After months of members\u2019 campaigning, negotiating and taking action, South Australian health support workers and disability support workers won a whopping pay rise that will see wages increase for most workers between 24% and 44% across the 3-year period, and real improvements to their conditions.\u00a0<\/p><p><b>It\u2019s the biggest public sector pay rise we know of&#8230; ever!<\/b><\/p><p>Other campaigns that saw members win pay increases and improved conditions include (but are definitely not limited to):<\/p><ul><li><b>Ambulance Victoria support staff<\/b> won a 20% increase over 4 years<\/li><li><b>Avalon Airport security guards<\/b>, who were all employed on a casual basis, won pay rises equivalent to 16% in their first year, and permanent jobs<\/li><li><b>Laundry workers<\/b> at Ensign in Perth secured a 10.5% pay and increase AND a paid day off for their birthdays<\/li><li><b>Members who make Doritos and Smith\u2019s chips at PepsiCo<\/b> in South Australia won a 13% increase bringing them in line with workers employed by the company in other states.<\/li><\/ul><p><b>Congratulations<\/b> to all members who stood together and took action! A special shout-out to anyone who took action for the first time &#8211; like workers at the RSPCA in South Australia and Crown and Star Casinos in Sydney!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ca6c5f5 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"ca6c5f5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-27e72d4 sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"27e72d4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SA-RSPCA2-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-76272\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SA-RSPCA2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SA-RSPCA2-scaled-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-06937b8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"06937b8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2e6329f sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2e6329f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4>Moments to celebrate<\/h4><p>In addition to winning improved pay and conditions through bargaining, there were a couple of moments that really stood out in 2025.<\/p><p>The first? We marked ten years of union power in farms across the country. Over the last decade, farm workers have been fighting exploitation, demanding respect and campaigning for visa justice while making sure we have food at our supermarkets and on our tables.<\/p><p>UWU farm members have:<\/p><ul><li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Stood up to dodgy contractors<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Exposed rampant and systemic wage theft<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Fought for visa justice and protection, a<\/span>nd more!<\/li><\/ul><p>Secondly, school cleaners in NSW won direct employment! Starting with workers in the Hunter and Central Coast, school cleaners will return to being government employees. This life-changing win will see the workers who keep schools clean and safe for our children have better pay, conditions and job security. This was a long and hard-fought campaign. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/1549633463077615\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Hear from long-time union leader Kath Hadden<\/a>\u00a0about what this will mean for current and future school cleaners.<\/p><p>Hopefully this time next year we\u2019ll be celebrating a similar policy in Victoria where members in school cleaning are still fighting for direct employment.<\/p><p><span style=\"color: #262626; font-family: 'Barlow Condensed', sans-serif; font-size: 2em; font-style: normal; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0px;\">But wait, there\u2019s more!<\/span><\/p><p>Read on to hear about a few more notable wins and campaigns we can\u2019t leave out.<\/p><p><b>50 Aged Care Providers (and counting) signed on to Labour Agreements<br \/><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Members have worked tirelessly to petition their employers to sign up with UWU to offer pathways to permanent residency for migrant aged care workers.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Tasmanian Education Facility Attendants (EFAs) take action<br \/><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">EFAs in Tassie, along with other public sector unions, spoke out and took industrial action resulting in a 3% pay increase and better entitlements. Job security negotiations are ongoing and will be picked up next year, so watch this space.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-521fab5 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"521fab5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dc849e1 sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"dc849e1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/EFA-153.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-76288\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/EFA-153.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/EFA-153-600x450.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-056c7f0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"056c7f0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-da3ced0 sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"da3ced0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Educators set the agenda<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">This year showed the impact early childhood educators have made by building collective power across the early education sector. We changed the rules, lifted standards, and made sure educators\u2019 voices were heard by government.<\/span><\/p><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\">Together we:<\/p><ul style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\"><li style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Won up to 18.5% in wage increases<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Exposed staffing loopholes with misuse of \u201cunder-the roof\u201d ratios and changed the national conversation<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Put educators at the front of media coverage and policy discussion with the launch of the Safer Staffing Action Plan, the EarlyEd Quality Check, and a National Survey of 3000 educators.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Victorian School Cleaners held Serco to account<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Giant cleaning contractor Serco was found to be breaching the minimum shift hours rule. UWU members identified this breach across multiple schools in Victoria.<\/span><\/p><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\">Victorian school cleaners won back:<\/p><ul style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\"><li style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Serco had to back pay over $760,000 to cleaners &#8211; $87,000 of that went to 37 UWU members<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Cleaners are now paid for a minimum 4-hour shift (as they should be!)<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">9,000 casino jobs saved<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">After Star revealed serious financial difficulties early in the year, thousands of workers were suddenly left wondering if they\u2019d still have jobs. But with the help of their union, these jobs have been saved and members at Star in Brisbane and Sydney went on to win better agreements.<\/span><\/p><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #262626; font-family: 'Barlow Condensed', sans-serif; font-size: 2em; font-style: normal; font-weight: 600;\">This and so much more \u2013 members should be proud<\/span><\/p><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\">This is not a comprehensive summary of the year, there was far too much going on for us to include it all. For more details about the campaigns and wins of 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/uwu-monthly-newsletter-january-2026#celebrating2025\">check out this article in our January newsletter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\">All members should be incredibly proud of the work we\u2019ve done together in 2025. We continue to stick together and back each other up, because that\u2019s what being a United Workers Union member is all about.<\/p><p style=\"font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;\">We hope you have the chance for a well-earned break over the New Year period. We need to rest up, because 2026 promises to be even bigger!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2025 was another massive year for United Workers Union members Looking back over the year, we&#8217;ve stood together and achieved some solid wins across all our industries. As members, we can be very&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":76136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187,60],"tags":[277],"class_list":["post-76134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-blog","tag-campaigns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76134"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76339,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76134\/revisions\/76339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}