Stick Together

Members First Campaign is contesting the leadership of the Manufacturing Division of the CFMMEU in contested election - the first in over thirty years.#TheirBudget, Our Lives - the Australian Unemployed Workers Union and the Anti-Poverty Network Budget reply.

Last week the Young Workers Centre rallied Apprentices and their supporters together to kick off a campaign calling for change to a work-place culture which puts them at risk for their lives and their future. We hear some of their stories and the solution to this wicked state if affairs.

Today we cover two events that happened last week:  International workers Memorial Day & May Day celebrations that mark International Workers Day.

We look at ageism and how it affects older workers and the EveryAGE Counts Campaign which is working against negative trends.

The regulation of cargo ships came into sharp focus this month when two ships were detained because they lacked fuel and food and amenities for their crews. We speak to Ian Bray from the the ITF about the situation. We also look at what is at stake for the SA Ambulance Employees Association as they call for the end of ambulance ramping in their State.

I talk with Max Ogden, author of "A long view from the left" about his role in the union movement and his passion for bringing arts into the workplace and industrial democracy.

The cuts to Jobseeker will throw social security recipients to below poverty payments. The cuts to Jobkeeper imperil a million workers. We report on rallies calling for the breaking of the poverty machine held around the country with the cut to Jobseeker and Keeper payments at the end of March.

The 31st of March is the Transgender Day of Visibility. For this week's episode Tilde will interview a Dani Cotton from the NTEU about the industrial issues trans people face, the particular challenges for the higher education sector, and the opporunities for social movement unionism as trans people come under attack from religious discrimination legislation.

News on the Omnibus Bill, Hungry Panda riders and more, and we take a look at how today's apprenticeships don't look anything like they did in 1969. Felicity Sowerbutts from the Young Workers Centre talks about the issues apprentices face today and how we can support them.

We cover some union news and then we hear from a 94 year old woman about her thoughts on work, being a worker and what she thinks of the aged care system.

Seattle City Light hired 10 women for the first time in the 1970's and fired them because of rampant sexism.  It ended in a 7 ½ year legal battle for reinstatement of the women workers. We go to the Melbourne launch of Ellie Belew's book High Voltage Women, published by Red Letter Press, which tells the story of these heroic women workers.

This week we speak to Josh Cullinan, secretary of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, RAFFWU, about casualisation, wage theft and the government's proposed omnibus bill.

Have you ever thought about the health of the people driving the trucks that keep the economy moving? This week we look at the first major survey of truck drivers which shows shocking results for Australia’s most common job for men. We include a tribute to Anne Feeney (1951-2021).

This week we cover news about wage theft, the gig-economy, forced labour and as always workers standing up for their rights. I also talk with Dave Fox from Bendigo Trades Hall about Victoria's first workplace death for 2021. 

We caught up with Bernie Constable a shearer and member of the Shearers and Rural Workers Union. Today we get another perspective on what is happening for an industry affected by apparent labour shortages because of covid.

We look at the cuture war surrounding Invasion Day, reflect on the First Nations struggle in 2020 and examine two massive strikes of Indigenous workers during the 20th century.

In today's program we go to a demonstration outside the Park Hotel in Melbourne in support of refugees being held there. We ask, has the political capital of successive Federal Government’s in Australia reaped from cruel refugee policies been spent? Have the fears  working people have  afraid for their jobs, and safety been calmed by cruelly treating refugees and paying big business billions to ru...

We hear more excerpts from the stories of four comrades who were members of the Communist Party of Australia. Noel Counihan, Kath Williams, Brian Manning and Joyce Stevens. Get your copy of Comrades! at the New International Bookshop

Today we have an interview with Don Sutherland, former Chief Industrial Officer for the AMWU, and a founding member of LIFE Living Incomes for Everyone about the cuts to Jobseeker and why it has knock-on effects for every working Australian in the LNP's game plan for a future Australia.

We speak with Kristin from the AUWU, Loukas from RAFFWU and Giles from CUPUW about the year that was and the challenges for precarious workers across society in one of the most challenging and bizarre years in recent memory.

This week we give an update on the sacred trees on Djab Wurrung country and then hear about the launch of Hospo Voice's new app called mobilise. 

We speak with Alison Pennington, Economist from the Centre for the Future of Work, about the Industrial Relations Legislation introduced into Parliament during the last week of Parliament before Christmas. What it will mean for Australian workers if the legislation is passed. Here is a link to Alison's most recent article for Jacobin on the IR legislation.

This week we'll hear Bernard Collaery's speech upon receiving this year's Spirit of Eureka award. The speech was made at the 166th Eureka Rebellion Commemoration. We also hear about why the Morning Star flag was raised at Trades Halls in Melbourne and Ballarat on December 1st.

On today's program we have a look at one man's experience of the cashless welfare card and follow with a word with Mich-Elle Meyers National Women's Liaison Officer at the Marine time Union of Australia the MUA about their commitment to stop gendered violence in the work place.

We cover the true cost of precarity as is relates to the recent South Australian COVID-19 scare, and speakwith Anastasia from CUPUW (Casualised, Unemployed and Precarious University Workers), about how casual university workers are fighting to save their industry. Get in touch with CUPUW (and RSVP to the picnic(!)) here: https://sites.google.com/view/cupuw/home