A win at Laverton Cold Storage
Workers at Laverton Cold Storage in Melbourne’s west are celebrating a win after a 12-day strike backed by a solid picket. Their new enterprise agreement includes union representation, induction rights and an immediate wage rise of more than $1 an hour (part of an 18 percent increase over...CONTINUE READING
Merry hell at Merri Health
“When community health is under attack, what do we do?” “Stand up, fight back!” The chant rang out at a lively rally by allied health workers and supporters at Merri Health, a community health centre in Melbourne’s inner north, on 29 June. Merri Health is one of 29 such centres in Victoria...CONTINUE READING
NSW nurses accept pay offer, with some dissent
A majority of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association voted on 27 June to accept the government’s offer of a 2.5 percent pay rise with no improvements to conditions or staffing levels. Importantly, 19 branches voted to reject the offer, defying both the government and the union leadership....CONTINUE READING
A win on the docks in Sydney
A two-month campaign by wharfies at the DP World Port Botany terminal in Sydney has ended with a victory: 15 new permanent jobs. The workers’ campaign included a golf day held on 10 May, as reported previously in Red Flag. The day before it was scheduled to occur, casual workers’ participa...CONTINUE READING
Funny, that: no jobs boom after penalty rates cuts
It’s a year since the first stage of penalty rates cuts in several retail and hospitality industries. The result is fewer full time jobs and lower wages for workers. When the wage cuts were being debated in the lead-up to the Fair Work Commission’s ruling last year, industry groups argued...CONTINUE READING
Fight looming for QLD electricity workers
It’s budget day in Queensland, and 2,000 electrical trades workers from across the state’s south east are rallying outside parliament. They are protesting what the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) calls the “privatisation by stealth” of the state’s electricity services. The Palaszczuk Labor g...CONTINUE READING
Silicosis may pose a threat bigger than black lung disease
Less than three years after the startling admission by the Queensland government that the deadly black lung disease – eradicated in Australia since the 1970s – is making a comeback on the state’s coalfields, a potentially bigger killer of coal miners is emerging: silicosis, which is caused...CONTINUE READING
Downer workers strike to win back conditions
Hundreds of workers across New South Wales have struck against Downer Group to demand a wage increase and to win back conditions lost in their last enterprise agreement. The three-day strike – from 6 to 8 June – and an indefinite ban on overtime are a part of the Downer workers’ industrial...CONTINUE READING
Protest demands right to strike
More than 500 maritime and construction workers rallied outside the Fair Work Commission in Sydney on 29 May. The protest was initiated by the Maritime Union of Australia to demand the right to strike. Marching from Town Hall to the steps of the commission, the rally took aim at the indust...CONTINUE READING