NTEU protection is available only to members
The NTEU has had a spate of non-members seeking NTEU help on issues over the past few weeks. While some of these issues were not job-threatening, one recent case involved a non-member’s employment being terminated in what seemed on the face of it to be unreasonable circumstances.
NTEU policy does not allow provision of assistance to new members who join the NTEU with a pre-existing issue without an up-front payment of 12 months back dues, except in exceptional circumstances (for example, where there might be a flow-on benefit to existing NTEU members).
Even then, the NTEU reserves the right not to assist members who join only because they suddenly have a problem at work, because it may impact on our ability to assist existing members who have been contributing to the Union’s activities, sometimes for years, before calling upon it for individual advice and assistance.
So in the case of the non-member seeking to join the NTEU so they could be helped immediately, the only help available was a referral to Fair Work Australia so they could check whether they had grounds for an unfair/unlawful dismissal claim.
Members might like to let their non-member colleagues know about this policy and encourage them to join the NTEU now, so if they do need NTEU support in the future, they will be able to obtain it.
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