Stick Together

On 24 April 2013 the eight-story Rana Plaza building in Dhaka Bangladesh collapsed. The owners of a number of garment factories in the building had ignored the most basic safety regulations, and forced workers to keep working when it was clear the walls were cracking. In Bangladesh, workers are paid monthly, at the end of the month. The collapse happened on the 24th, and workers were threatened wi...

When Chris Breen and his wife lost their baby Priya when she was just six weeks old, they needed time to grieve. But while Chris was still able to take his planned three months of parental leave, his wife, who goes by the name Priya’s mum, was forced back to work. That's because her planned paid maternity leave was cancelled by her employer. The two embarked on an important but very emotional camp...

This episode with host James Brennan brings you union news and an interview with Alexis Vassiley author of the new book Striking ore 'The Rise and fall of union power in the Pilbara'. Striking ore focuses on the workers themselves including their agitating for hard won breakthroughs in pay, conditions and safety. 

After a 74-hour strike by 1,000 workers, the Nexperia Philippines Workers’ Union secured the reinstatement of union leaders Mary Ann Castillo (president) and Girlie Battad (union official), along with a PHP50 (US$0.87) wage increase over three years. My guest today is Rochelle Porras from Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research in the Philippines.

The Wills electorate is currently held by Labor MP Peter Kahlil who has been the elected representative since 2016. This show is not to endorse any candidates for the election but is looking into a key seat in the federal election. Some of the issues we have been covering on the show such as the CFMEU, Palestine, Socialist politics, military spending, cost of living and the parties connection to t...

In today's program we continue our focus on how workers win against the odds we look at the Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ where a coalition of faith groups, community organizations and unions worked in partnership starting in 2012 on the Living Wage Campaign. We speak with former Union Organizer turned author Lyndy McIntyre about the campaign which she writes about in her document of the strugg...

 In today's program we ask the question how do people get positive change at work and in their communities when the powers that be seem to be against them?  First we hear from two industrial campaigns that gained positive outcomes for the workers involved.

We’ve been covering the recent Victorian Government’s announcement in relation to the slashing of 3000 jobs across the Victorian public service. And we’ve been covering a rank n file caucus of workers in the Victorian Public Service, that is fighting to take back their union. A Voice For Members organised against the job cuts, and in defence of their own jobs. The rally was held on the steps of Pa...

Today we have two reports. The first puts the experiences of meat processing workers in Australia under the PALM (Pacific Australian Labour Mobility) scheme under the microscope. Pyria Kunjan speaks with Ema Moolachand about a recent RMIT report here (exhibition here report here petition here) We follow with a word from people who gathered for the Pride March down Fitzroy St, St Kilda on the 2 of...

On this weeks episode of Stick Together host James Brennan speaks with author Santilla Chingaipe about her book 'Black Covcits: How slavery shaped Australia.'The discussion talk about how this legacy of convicts of African descent were aboard the first fleet shapes modern Australian racism. The impact of Peter Dutton and the Murdoch media's frenzy of racist hysteria around African gangs on African...

Today’s show is about international solidarity, and especially the kind that you build up when you travel to other countries and meet workers involved in struggle. My guest today is Clive Tillman, who attended the International Solidarity Affairs in Manila in the Philippines, that was organised by the militant labour group, the Kilusang Mayo Uno. Plus, some union news!

Last week saw a momentous occasion at the North Fitzroy Library, Melbourne – the launch of A Voice For Members a new rank-and-file caucus covering Victorian state public servants. A Voice For Members is a group of CPSU SPSF members the Community and Public Sector Union and State Public Service Federation committed to revitalising the union by strengthening grassroots  democracy. donations

January 26. Australia Day. Invasion It marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, in New South Wales, the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at that site by Governor Arthur Phillip, the invasion of Australia and the start of genocide against the original owners of this land. January 26 is a day of mourning and a day of struggle, marked by big,...

In this program we hear from Nurses and Midwives for Palestine speaking up at the Sydney Rally for Palestine on Jan 11. The speaker is Mark and there was a line up of about 20 people in scrubs with a big banner. Mark tells us how they are disappointed that their actual union does not endorse this but that they are a group which has come to every rally. This speech gives a background to the recent...

Stick Together is a half-hour weekly show about workers rights and current affairs. Stick Together features interviews with workers, unionists, community campaigners and academics from right across Australia. This episode of Stick together features an interview with Alex Ettling and Iain McIntyre authors and editors of the book 'Knocking the top off' a people's history of alcohol in Australia. Ale...

 As we put 2024 to bed with its defining moment of Federal Labor’s legislation placing the CFMEU Construction & General Division into administration it is worth considering the bedrock of workers struggle in this country, the first major event of post-colonial Australia the Eureka Stockade.  We go to the pre-dawn reclaim the radical spirit of Eureka event held in Ballarat on Dec 3 on the site of t...

Special Christmas show with a round up as well as the hyper exploitation of Chinese workers making Christmas decorations.

The campaign to support the CFMEU and it's members continues, Esther Van Erand was an organiser with the union who was sacked for allegedly having a verbal altercation with journalist Nick McKenzie. This episode of stick together brings you the audio from an action in Melbourne outisde the fair work commission, as well as the regular segments of the show including union news a weekly wrap up of un...

Today we go outside the Federal Court in Melbourne with National Tertiary Education Union members who are getting their day in court over the system wage theft they have experienced; we give an update on the UWU warehouse dispute with Woolworths; and the QUBE gaming of the Fair Work Act.

No doubt you’ve noticed the empty shelves at Woolworths stores across the Eastern states of Australia, and you’ve also heard that it’s owing to industrial action. On today's program, we speak with Dario Mujkic from the United Workers Union about the strike of 1800 Woolworths warehouse workers across 3 different states. Plus some union news. Support the strike fund here.

The UWU members working at Woolworths Warehouse sites handling liquor in Victoria and NSW and affecting some sites in Queensland are on indefinite strike leading up to Christmas. Dario Mujkic from the UWU spoke to Green Left 3cr on Friday November 22.We hear from a CFMEU organiser who was at the site of a death of a member at a Victorian Wind Farm recently. We go to the rally for Nurses and Midwiv...

Stick Together is a half-hour weekly show about workers rights and current affairs. Stick Together features interviews with workers, unionists, community campaigners and academics from right across Australia. This episode of stick together speaks about the new changes to the NDIS with an interview from Greens senator Jordan Steele John. 

Some highlights from the NSW stopwork rally against CFMEU administration on Tuesday 12 November. The NSW administrators engaged in intimidation and threats against workers to try to prevent the rally from going ahead, but you can’t stop genuine unionists from fighting for their right to have a democratic union and a choice in their representation. As well as some union news. Here's the link to the...

Two features from the shop floor this week. First the experience of turning an unsafe workplace into one that is able to support its workers. Last week the 2024 Victoria Trades Hall Council HSR conference addressed the topic of OHS skills for active Health and Safety Representatives. We hear one of the featured workplace stories from the conference.  We follow up with part of a discussion between...

On today’s program we come back to this issue of union solidarity for the struggle in Palestine. We will hear from rank and file unionist working for the public service, Judy McVey talk about the history so far with union support for the struggle, and why workers need to keep fighting. We will also continue our coverage of the CFMEU administration – last week on the show we covered the Westgate Br...