The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia (CEPU) is a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Its full name is the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia as it represents workers in all of these industries.

History

CEPU is an amalgamation of three separate unions, which are divisions of CEPU, namely the: *

Communication Workers Union of Australia Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not only transmit ...

(CWU); *

Electrical Trades Union of Australia The Electrical Trades Union of Australia (ETU) is an Australian trade union. The ETU is a division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia, Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), and is the largest of t ...

(ETU); and * Plumbing Trades Employees Union (PTEU). Whilst the CEPU is technically one federally registered union, each of the above divisions act largely autonomously sharing resources when needed. At a state level many of the unions exist completely separately. In February 2020 the CEPU was penalized by the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

for breaches of the ''Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009'' (Cth), after proceedings were commenced by the

Registered Organisations Commission The Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) was an independent, statutory authority of the Australian Government, responsible for the regulation and education of registered organisations (that is, trade unions and employer organisations) in Au ...

(ROC) in 2018. An appeal to this decision was lodged. CEPU was affiliated with the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...

. After the ACTU’s support for a federally administrated

CFMEU The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) is Australia's largest Trade union, union in the construction, forestry, wikt:maritime, maritime, Textile manufacturing, textile, Clothing industry, clothing and Shoemaking, footw ...

the Union officially disaffiliated on the 5th of September, 2024, following a vote.

References

External links

{{Portal, Organized labour
National websiteRudd aiming for redneck vote
Trade unions affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions Trade unions in Australia