Thousands rally against the ABCC in Sydney
Around 5,000 union members marched through Sydney on 6 September to protest against the anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission. The mood was energetic and confident. As the crowd gathered at Belmore Park, big cheers sprang up every time a delegation of workers marched f...CONTINUE READING
WA bosses getting away with murder
“Mum, someone is going to get killed on that worksite … they’re hell reckless Mum. No one wears a harness.” This was how Regan Ballantine recalled a conversation with her 17-year-old son, Wesley, days before he fell 12 metres to his death while installing a glass ceiling at work. Photos We...CONTINUE READING
Early educators walk off the job for equal pay
Early Childhood Educators Day is devoted to giving thanks to workers who educate children under the age of five. The government has thanked them in a peculiar way. The sector is expected to lose half a billion dollars in funding, and childcare workers wages have stagnated at an abysmal $21...CONTINUE READING
Every injustice an organising opportunity
It might seem like small beer compared to the battle for the eight-hour day or the weekend, but the right to have a humble pot plant on your desk has nevertheless fuelled a bitter showdown at the University of Sydney. It started in May, when staff due to move into the new administration bu...CONTINUE READING
Belligerent Telstra cops resistance
When Telstra walked away from negotiations for a new enterprise agreement in late July, management were expecting to catch their workforce unawares. They put an offer on the table, refused to negotiate, and rushed through a vote. The bosses wanted to ensure the unions had as little chance...CONTINUE READING
Cleaners take a stand
Cleaners working at Liberal senator Michaelia Cash’s office in Canberra are being ripped off. When the cleaning contract for various government buildings was recently transferred to Broadspectrum, a third of the cleaners were sacked. Only six kept their jobs. Ten others have been left in l...CONTINUE READING
‘It’s a gun to our head’. Workers battle against aluminium giant
Alcoa’s Pinjarra refinery usually billows clouds of smoke. Today, it manages only a few thin streams. When this news is conveyed to striking workers picketing another refinery in Kwinana, it intensifies the sense of solidarity and common purpose among them. Around 1,600 workers at the Alco...CONTINUE READING
Workers shut down money factory
Workers at Note Printing Australia shovel out more than $3 million in currency every hour, but they can’t get a decent pay rise. So on Friday 10 August, workers at the company’s Craigieburn factory, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, walked off the job to support their wage claim of 3.5...CONTINUE READING
Unions playing by Labor’s rules
It was nearly a year ago that Sally McManus, national secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, launched the Change the Rules campaign. A television advertising campaign – said to be the biggest in a decade – was backed up by spirited rhetoric from union leaders calling on union...CONTINUE READING