Stick Together

When Brad Marsh went into bat to fight for his daughter against abysmal pay from her employer Baker's Delight he was just picking the scab off a pucsy sore. We speak to Brad and Retail and Fast Food Union organiser Mel Gregson for an update. The community have come out in protest WestConnex. This week the Sydney Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia joined residents at Sydney protesting the co...

2017 is going to be a year of fighting for our lives. These are words coming from the mouth of writer and union activist Van Badham the occasion the Women's March against Trump on Jan 21 in Melbourne. The full speech later in the programme. Diversity isn't just a word or a politically correct behaviour. It is what happened down in St kIlda on Sun Jan 29th as part of the Midsumma Pride March. Victo...

This week on Stick Together we speak with ACTU President, Ged Kearney about the year that was and look forward to what 2017 holds for the trade union movement. We also speak with Ella Fabry from the Timor Sea Justice campaign about recent developments in the dispute between Timor Leste and Australia over resources in the Timor Sea. The extedned interview with Ged Kearney can be found here.

Modern Award replaces EBA at Loy Yang more on the way. On Friday 14th of January the Fair Work Commission ordered the EBA between AGL and workers at  Loy Yang in Gippsland's La Trobe Valley, be scrapped, meaning workers will be covered by a modern award until a new agreement can be reached. Geoff Dykes from the CFMEU Victorian Mining and energy division goves the back ground leading up to this dec...

Today with focus on Pensions and Penalty rates. David Thompson CEO of Jobs Australia lifts the curtain on some other scandals at the heart of our Centrelink system. Lou Wheeler from Fair Go for Pensioners gives an account of the Age Pension changes while Josh Cullinan from the Retail & Fast Food Workers Union goes into bat for the Baker's Delight workers who have been short changed.

The work of disabled workers, their laywers from the AED legal centre and pro bono work from barristers delivered back pay for up to 10,000 workers in Australian Disability Enterprises. We have words from Kairsty Wilson AED Principal Legal Pracitioner about this society changing out come. Federal Government  use of data matching and modeling techniques have been applied to social security recipien...

We are drawing near to the 12 month anniversary of the dramatic midnight raid which bought an end to the longest sit-in occupation of a vessel in Australian history. This week we look back at the MV Portland dispute and the MUA's struggle to save the future of Australian shipping. We talk to those involved, including the MV Portland's chief cook, Michael Pawson who tells us what happened on that f...

 The issue dominating the last week was the formal stages of the creation of a Super Union. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the CFMEU and the MUA went ahead on Wednesday 14 of December at Victorian Trades Hall witnessed by a plethora of other Union officials, delegates and rank and file members. We were there will bring you a report from the mouths of those present. We also...

The big news is that the CUB 55 have been reinstated. The workers were given a guard of honour on Monday 12th at 6.30 in the morning as they returned to work. We give you sounds of the morning thanks to the Victorian Trades Hall media. Teachers and their T-shirts are making the news this week. Teachers for Refugees have provoked the Turnbull Government into attack position because of T-shirts call...

The Victory after 180 days of picket for the CUB 55 maintenance workers is a victory for all working Australia's. We take you to the Spirit of Eureka celebrations at the CUB picket to honour the CUB 55 and the anniversy of the Eureka Stockade where white Australian political resistance formally began. We talk to Duncan Storrar who was chased by Murdoch media hounds after he made a Liberal politica...

The NDIS has been hailed as a great leap forward for people with disability. This week we explore the industrial relations impacts of the new NDIS funding model and what they mean for quality of care. This weeks episode also highlights HACSU’s campaign against the threat of privatisation in the Victorian disability sector. An extended interview with Leon and George about NDIS funding can be found...

The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union established itself this week in direct opposition to the SDA which has shown itself unable to defend members' rights to penalties and a fair deal. Taxi Owner/drivers are calling for a fair deal not chicken feed for license buy outs.

Two different rallies bound by violence: the rally honouring the National Day of Respect for Public Transport Workers & the second rally we visit was held outside the Fair Work Commission offices in Melbourne Central to mark the first hearings into the call for Domestic violence leave to be included in awards.

News that Brisbane Bus Driver Manmeet Sharma had been incinerated while at the wheel of his bus was so shocking that it did not just stun Brisbane but sent waves throughout Australia.  Save Centre of Cultural Partnership the only course dedicated to arts and social practice in Australia is being closed by VCA meaning job losses and a loss to the community.

In the recent ACT election the Unions ACT ran a grass roots workers focused campaign similar to We Are Union campaign in Victoria. It proved two things: 1. the ACTU change in direction to being a worker campaign organisation rather than reacting to crisis and 2. that this type of campaigning can be decisive. The Victorian branch of the CFMEU is having an election for organisers because one member...

This year marks the centenary of Australia's first non-binding plebiscite. In 1916, during the height of WWI, Australians were sent to the polls to vote on whether the government should extend conscription and send young workers to kill and be killed in a foreign war. Trade Unions were very active in the campaign and played an important part in defeating conscription. Today's episode explores the...

 At the annual Union Activism and History Conference workers came together to talk about work place actions from the past and the present. The 1970's Rosella Strike that ran for 26 weeks, the victorious Polar Fresh dispute that ran for three days and a word from Colleen Bolger about an action at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers where fighting for fair came closer to home than the partners probably ever i...

In this episode we will be focusing on the Trans Pacific Partnership as it makes its way through Parliament or not. We give you the answer to why it bad for workers. After that we will talk to some of the delegates and organisers of the first Young Workers Conference held on Oct 7 and 8. Delegates and rank and file members come from across the country and fromNew Zealand for the highly successful...

Today we will feature a CUB picket as the blokes were getting ready for the Grand Final weekend. The Young Workers Centre down at Victorian Trades Hall has been putting runs on the board over the last year and on Friday Oct 7th it runs its first Young Workers Conference. We will finish with Ben Davis from the AWU reflecting on the recent decision of the Andrews Labour Government in Victoria's to b...

In today's programme we are going to look at what is happening at one of Australia's oldest oil and gas fields Longford 20 kilometres from Sale in South Gippsland, Victoria. After more than 50 years the oil reserves are running out and the way Exxon Mobil subsidiarity Esso is dealing with worker negotiations is raising eyebrows.  We will follow that with a look at Coates Hire Workers who are takin...

 This episode we are featuring the fight for a fair outcome in the South Australian Nurses EBA negotiations and the consequences for Australian jobs with the Federal Government's decision to outsource manufacture of Australian Armed Forces uniforms to China. Before we do though a quick word about the Earthworker Co-opt Walk with the Valley initatitive which kicked off on Sept 19 with a launch at t...

This week we will be featuring the CSIRO. Staff are being asked to vote on a new EBA which reduces conditions and has salaries falling behind inflation. We follow that with calls for jobs in the green sector for Gippsland as calls for the shutting of the troubled Hazelwood coal mine intensify.

Report on Turnbull Government loss at High Court bid to use foreign workers without visas on offshore oil and gas Shipping but wants to cut Newstart to balance its budget.

A 1,000 days is long enough says the membership of the CPSU. 1,000 days is how long it has taken the Federal Government to not negiotate a new eba for our Federal Public Service. We report on upcoming strike action called for September 9th. We follow this with a look at a victory for playwrights. Yes that's right people in the creative industries need to be represented and the Australian Writers G...

This edition of Stick Together looks at the fire storm created by the Liberals and their help mate the Murdoch press over the issue of the CFA eba. We will then look at the latest employment figures from the ABS followed by a chat with Robyn Murphy about the feature she is involved in about the heroic fight for equal rights at work for women. Lest we forget.