Stick Together

The Australia Services Union took Maribyrnong Council (Melb.,Vic.) to Federal Court to get the redundancy payments of around $2.3 million dollars for their members made redundant with the outsourcing of the Council's home care service for the elderly. A fine victory. Yasmin from the National Union of Workers tells us about the new Call Centre newsletter bringing Call Centre workers together.

Mark from Earth Worker Workers Cooperative in Morwell. located in the Latrobe Valley the past capital of coal fired electricity generation in Australia, now in the throes of change talks about why Earth Worker and why climate change and job generation should mean a new future not a dark end. newsChinese Coal mining options next door to Adani dropped Queensland MUA leader calls for Labor to back cl...

This week we take you to the event organised by the RTBU and Spirit of Eureka, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the general strike in 1969 in defence of imprisoned union leader Clarrie O'Shea.

Coverage of the "Save Australian Shipping" rally in Melbourne. We hear from workers and union representatives about the current situation of Australian shipping. Information from the CFMEU about PFAS which is putting workers and the public at risk due to the West Gate Tunnel project.

Around Australia and the world large gatherings of workers have celebrated May Day the day of workers solidarity. So today we thought we would give you a great story of workers organising together to get better conditions and wages in an unlikely setting where casualisation and general disenchantment with their Union had given the workers a sense of hopelessness. We follow this with a speech given...

On Monday 29th April an International Workers Memorial Day ceremony was held outside Victoria Trades Hall where there was a call for Federal Industrial Manslaughter Laws.

This week on the program, we bring you the story of the hospital pharmacists who are dispensing free drugs as part of their campaign to secure their wages and conditions. We speak with Gianni Sottile who tells us more about the employer's extreme response to this action. We also speak with Thirza White, Assistant Secretary of the Tasmanian CPSU about the wave of strikes and stoppages causing heada...

We hear from workers and union representatives from the Melbourne Change the Rules rally on April 10.

Another major industrial fire hit the working class Northern suburbs of Melbourne on April 6. It is the fourth in three years. 175 fire fighters were used to subdue the fire and 8 schools were shut down with some concern about what chemicals were actually in the smoke. Two workers were hospitalized. Residents are asking would this happen with so little consequence except to their health if it was...

National Union of Workers organiser talks about Chemist Warehouse. Jeff Hoy from Victorian branch of the Marinetime Union of Australia talks about a maintenance contract on the Melbourne wharves causing a few waves. We join Transport Worker Union members preparing to go on a convoy ride for safety and conditions in the wake of a spike in truck driver deaths since the beginning of the year.

Interview with Brett Edgington, Secretary of the Ballarat Trades and Labour Council. Brett took me on a tour of Ballarat Trades Hall and told me about the history of the labour movement in Ballarat. Sallly Warren from United Voice spoke about her experiences working in aged care and why she chose to speak at the Royal Commission into Aged Care.

This week we take you to the picket lines, where Chemist Warehouse workers are taking indefinte action in support of fair wages, secure employment and an end to sexual harassment in the workplace. Their strike action is now in its second week. We talk with members and union officials about their fight with Australia's largest pharmacy retailer. We also take you to the school students strike in Mel...

A look at what the Geelong Women's Committee at the Geelong Trades Hall are doing to combat Gendered Violence. The NTEU expose the problems with the Ramsay Western Civilization Centre set to open at Queensland University.

Australian supermarkets have pushed the price of milk down to the point where it is now cheaper than bottled water. This has caused pressure through the supply chain. While we hear a lot about the farmers, we don't often hear about the workers in the milk and other dairy processing plants. What does this price pressure mean for the workers and theregional communities that rely on the industry? Thi...

The Financial Sector Union gives us the reasons for why the look into Banks is unfinished business.  We follow that with the attack on wharfies by Australia’s biggest stevedore company DP World.

We hear from Sally McManus about the launching of her new book "On Fairness".We speak with Hayden from the Australian Unemployed Workers Union (AUWU) about the impact of the Cashless Welfare Card in Ceduna. 

This week on the show we bring you an update on the story of Hakeem Al-Araibi. The Bahrain born footballer was granted refugee status in Australia but now faces extradition to Bahrain after being detained in Thailand. His return to Bahrain will lead to imprisonment and there are fears for his safety. Rallies were held in Sydney and Melbourne last week calling for his immediate release and return t...

The Federal Government policy of internships for young workers at Fast Food outlets came under fire over the Christmas period when it was found a job search agency was fielding young workers under the internship program to cover holiday vacancies at a fast food outlet. We speak to Josh Cullinan from the Fast Food and Retail Workers Union (RAFFWU) for an insight into the issues surround the interns...

Wongawilli Colliery mineworkers have won a spectacular win against Wollongong Coal after taking strike action. CFMEU's tTony Maher emphasises the importance of this win. “The conversion of permanent, well paid jobs into poorly paid, insecure jobs is a huge issue right across the country. What this win proves is that the trend is reversible. If labour hire workers join their union, we can turn this...

In addition to your weekly wrap of union news, this week we bring you two stories of workers fighting to receive their basic legal rights. In Brisbane, young workers at a MacDonalds franchise staged a protest after their employer threatened them for asking to take the paid 10 minute breaks. Reporter Craig Garrett was at the protest. We then cross to Sydney and speak with the MUA about their fight...

Two reports this week. The first takes us to Queensland where across the State local councils are negotiating enterprise bargaining agreements with Redlands City Council staff taking unprecedent industrial action after some of the workers were expected to take a $15,000 a year cut. We then take you to the "We feed you: the migrant farm workers fighting exploitation" session at the ALP Fringe runni...

At the 2018 Spirit of Eureka Dinner Dave Noonan accepted the Spirit of Eureka Award for the CFMEU

Two features today one about what is happening at our Universities with the latest figures showing that less than half the jobs at universities are permanent. We follow this with a look at why industrial manslaughter laws are important with a particular focus on the promised industrial manslaughter laws in Victoria. 

The effect of the privatization of public services and what that means for workers and users of those services. A recent report commissioned by the Community and Public Sector Union the CPSU ) is showing worrying results for users and workers. We follow this with a word with a worker in a call centre who is experiencing the effects of a corporate approach to workers rights on site.

In this edition of Stick Together we look back at a week where both teachers and students went on strike.  Primary and Secondary Teachers in South Australia and Tasmania took strike action last week in support of their wage claims and for improvements to school funding. Not to be outdone, more than ten thousand students around Australia went on strike from school, demanding the government take act...