Stick Together

The death of two construction workers within a week of each other recently highlights the tension that has been created by giving more power to the employers than the workers when it comes to OH&S. We speak to Dr Gerry Ayres from the CFMEU Victorian Construction Division specifically about the death early morning on Monday Feb 15th in Carlton and more generally about issues to do with safety. We f...

Duncan Hart and the AMIEU have had their first day in court in an effort to overturn the SDA brokered Coles deal that means some workers will see a $15,000 a year decrease in wages. The Fair Work Commission is looking to see if the new agreement passes the fairness test. We also hear from Matt Osbourne who gave evidence at last weeks Victorian inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Wor...

The Victorian Inquiry into the Hire Industry & Insecure Work is the first in the country. The Victorian Trades Hall Council celebrated the beiginning of public hearings by bringing together Labour Party representatives, union officials and workers to mark the start of public recognition of the scourge of insecure work on Australian society.

While the Federal Government begins its first sitting for 2016 the sacked MV Portland Crew and supporters have set up across the road in Canberra. The first order of business for Parliament is anti Union legislation while across the road the sacked workers want to know about the destruction of local jobs; Nico a back packer wants to know how exploitation of work visa workers is allowed to continue...

The Turnbull Government wants to go to an election on a new Basics Card. It will be called the Healthy Welfare Etpos card and will quarantine welfare money from all people receiving any form of welfare payment. 80% of money will be withheld and the rest will be available in money. Stick Together talks to people who are affected by such moves. We follow up with a dramatic piece from 3CR's live cove...

The waterfronts of Australia are a stir with industrial unrest as big business flexes its muscles. Not since the 1990's Patrick dispute has there been such a concerted effort by business and government to fillet the rights of workers – Marinetime workers in Australia and around the world. We look at the MV Portland dispute and forcible removal by private security by US company Alcoa with support f...

At the 2015 SALT conference Ian Jameson recalls his days as an union organiser in the remote West Coast of Tasmania mining area.

Today's young workers are likely to be the first generation in modern history to be worse off than their parents generation. Only around 8% of Australian workers under 25 are union members. How then do these young workers feel about this outlook for the future? Why are they not union members? How do they see the future improving? Tune in to hear voices from a generation which has yet to truly tast...

Two senior officials of the Victorian CFMEU have been charged with criminal offences taking industrial relations back to the 19th century. UFU are angry that the Daniel Andrews Government refuses to sign off on their EBA after 950 days over safety provisions.

To celebrate the International Day of People with Disability we talk to Dr Nikki Henningham who has researched Australian women Disability Activists for the Australian online encyclopedia of Women & Leadership. 

Today's program catches up with the senate inquiry into the exploitation of workers in Australia on work visas. The inquiry has been travelling the continent collecting information about the 7/11 wages scandal and finding that when you lift a rock you never know what other unsavoury things you will find. But first the history making agreement in Port Kembla between Bluescope and steel workers 

Hundreds of thousands were inspired by Jeremy Corbyn's socialist insurgency in UK Labor. Yet more are excited by Bernie Sanders' call for a "political revolution against the Billionaire Class" in his socialist campaign for USA President. Revolutionary socialist Kshama Sawant scored a historic victory for working people by being re-elected to Seattle City Council. What about Australia? How do we be...

Several weeks ago, The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) began talks about a possible merger in order to create a militant mega union. Shortly afterwards, the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union (TCFUA)  also began to be involved in the talks. Are we on the verge of seeing the rise of the One Big Union in Australia? Joining us for th...

Chafta has made its way through Parliament and is on its way to the Senate. The ETU are still fighting for workers jobs and public safety. Kahlani Pyrah who fought the bosses at Grill'd with her fellow workers and won talks at SALT conference; Tim Gooden tells all about the Geelong Major and that sexist T-shirt.

A jam-packed episode full of stories of workers' struggle, unity and fight for social justice. We will cover the National Union of Workers' Fluro Fightback, featuring Van Badham, Father Bob McGuire and Gary Maas. We will interview SDA activist Duncan Hart about his latest appeal to the Fair Work Commission in protest to the deal between the union and Coles management to cut penalty rates. We will...

Mega resources corporation Glencore is sacking workers and reducing production at its zinc mine at the McArthur River in the Gulf of Carpentaria and leaving an environmental mess. Is this the future for Australian mining? Unions came out to support Refugees on Sunday Oct 11 and Tim Gooden from the Geelong Trades Hall talks about how he helped secure economic security for a young Tamil Refugee's fa...

7-eleven wages scandal; Tram & Train strikes diverted when Yarra Trams & Metro negotiate; Vocational teachers to strike at RMIT over insulting offer in wages increase and reduced conditions.

We will be covering the latest stories of workers' struggles from around Australia and the world. We'll highlight the recent action by United Voice Victoria to defend penalty rates. Also joining us for the show will be Craig Kelly, the Assistant Secretary of AMWU  Victoria Branch, to discuss the latest protest against Transfield and a broader campaign for refugee rights within the union movement.

Comments on Malclom Turnbull as new PM and the affect on IR policy by Ged Kearney; Build a Better Future door knocking campaign; Hands off Australia Post protest 12 Sept; CPSU strike at international airports for resolution of pay and conditions dispute.

Together with Godfrey Moase, the Assistant General Secretary of the National Union of Workers, we will be discussing the aftermath of Tony Abbot's demise and the way forward for the union movement now. We will also bring updates regarding the RTBU Victoria's fight for fair wages and conditions. Finally,we will explore the revelations of the exploitation of 7/11 workers and the union strategies req...

The Rail, Bus & Tram Union (RBTU) were out on Friday over Metro rail refusal to negotiate their EBA. Christine Cummins talks about the difficulties of doing your job ethically as a health professional at detention camps since the Immigration Department became the Department of Border Security. Her on-line petition against the Border Force Act.

News and reports from the workers struggles and union actions! On our program, we will be discussing the latest union rallies and movements against the China Free Trade Agreement. Joining us for the show will be Samantha Castro, the co-founder of the Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance, who will also discuss the current developments of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and its po...

The question of Commission Dyson Heydon's 'accidental' acceptance of speaking engagement at a Liberal Party fundraiser is inspected by Humphrey McQueen and Ged Kearney from the ACTU has something to say about the Senate rejection of two anti union bills.

The last few weeks have been sizzling with industrial disputes, strikes and workers' struggles right across Australia. We will be discussing the struggle and the outcome of the MLDC warehouse workers strike in Laverton and hearing from Bob Carnegie, the Queenlsand state secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, about the continuous fight of the union members against Hutchinson Ports in Sydney...

In a month of Attacks on Workers we look at the charging of ACT CFMEU organiser Johnnie Lomax with Black mail with Loss by the Federal Police for negotiating an EBA with an employer; the Productivity Commission's interim report which calls for penalty rates being cut on Sundays for retail and hospitality workers; and we also look at the changes to Centrelink on July 1 from the point of view of the...