Publications

A bold new community and union alliance

Our vision:

The Hunter Jobs Alliance aims for a future for our region with full employment, good union jobs, a thriving and healthy living environment, an equitable society, a stable climate, and renewable prosperity.

Join us

Our mission:

  • Advocate to put the Hunter Region on an orderly path to a low carbon and sustainable future.
  • Undertake community engagement and advocacy for good jobs in the Hunter region in the new low-carbon economy, focused on measurable outcomes and real projects;
  • Build community and worker leadership for the above plan, respecting the dignity of workers

Hunter Jobs Alliance affiliate member organisations:

  • Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union NSW & ACT Branch (AMWU) is a founding organisation 
  • Electrical Trades Union NSW & ACT Branch (ETU)
  • United Workers Union (UWU)
  • Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union NSW & ACT Services Branch (ASU)
  • Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU)
  • National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU)
  • New South Wales Teachers Federation (NSWTF)
  • Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Branch (IEU)
  • New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA)
  • Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) is a founding organisation
  • Lock the Gate Alliance
  • Hunter Community Environment Centre (HCEC)
  • Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales

The Hunter Jobs Alliance Declaration

The Hunter region has powered New South Wales for decades with its vast natural resources and generations of skilled workers.

The Hunter Jobs Alliance aims for a future for our region with full employment, good union jobs, a thriving and healthy living environment, an equitable society, a stable climate, and renewable prosperity.

We will campaign for local and sustainable jobs in energy, manufacturing and supply-chains, food-production, education and health and care, with union agreements and the best possible terms and conditions. We will campaign for all new energy sources to be renewable energy with low carbon firming.

We focus not on what divides us, but on our shared interest in diversifying and strengthening the Hunter economy. In a time of change, we need to build new sustainable industries and opportunities to ensure the Hunter remains a great place to live for both us and our children.

We are a community and union alliance that is grounded in the local and works with governments and industry to deliver a sustainable, safe, and prosperous future for the Hunter in which workers, their families, and the environment thrive.

 

The Hunter Jobs Alliance believes the Hunter region needs three key things:

  1. A public process to involve the public and stakeholders in planning for and adjusting to changes in the thermal coal market. This process must be upfront with people about the challenges we’re facing and give the region control over major decisions about new industry and structural adjustment.
  2. Public investment in new industry and support for workers and communities: businesses must contribute and participate, but large-scale public investment is necessary for scale, certainty, transparency and to ensure the public interest is paramount.
  3. Tangible and immediate actions: there are opportunities now that can begin investment, create jobs and build confidence in the region’s future, such as the transformation of Tomago aluminium to renewable energy, maintaining its keystone role in Hunter industry and energy stability.

The transformation this region needs to undertake will occur at multiple scales, involving people and stakeholders transparently and making workers, communities and the environment the first priorities.

Our Structure

We are an incorporated organisation and registered charity that campaigns to maintain well-paid secure jobs in the Hunter, as the energy market changes.  We directly organise volunteers and locals, and build alliances with unions, local government, business and other organisations to this end.

Justin Page

Sam Wilkins