Nurses rally against overcrowding
More than 100 nurses rallied on 15 October in protest at dangerous overcrowding at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The new $2.3 billion hospital was opened in September 2017, and with 800 beds is South Australia’s largest. Yet already there is severe overcrowding. Staff report being forced to...CONTINUE READING
Strike planned at Monash University
After over 12 months of campaigning for a new workplace agreement, Monash University staff will strike on 23 October. Management wants to strip penalty rates from staff who work late into the night. Workers in the university sports facilities, residential services and other departments wil...CONTINUE READING
Will Labor change the rules?
Workers’ wages in Australia have stagnated or gone backwards for half a decade, while the super rich have been helping themselves – with both hands. According to the Australian Financial Review’s annual survey, the richest 200 people in the country increased their total wealth from $176.8...CONTINUE READING
Amazon warehouse: working in a modern day sweatshop
It has been 10 months since the portentous opening of Amazon’s first Australian “fulfilment centre” in Dandenong, south-east of Melbourne. A second warehouse, twice the size, opened in August in the suburbs of Sydney. Wide selections of goods and fast delivery times, however, are not the o...CONTINUE READING
Workers strike on billion dollar resort development
Around 800 construction workers on a $1.4 billion high rise resort development in Surfers Paradise voted to down tools on 3 October. The strike is about job security on the Jewel Resort project after 150 workers were told that they were no longer needed. A dispute between the developer, Yu...CONTINUE READING
Rail workers step in to save station cleaners’ jobs
Two sacked cleaners at Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street Station have won their jobs back after joining with other rail workers to fight their boss. Ada and Lilly [not their real names] were sacked by cleaning contractor ISS, after they had refused to shift from permanent to casual positi...CONTINUE READING
Lockout at Airtrain
Airtrain’s managers have locked out their Brisbane workforce in retaliation against the workers taking protected industrial action as part of their enterprise agreement negotiations. The 30 mostly part time workers at Airtrain refused to collect fares (an exorbitant $20 each way between th...CONTINUE READING
Queensland government targeted in busy day of union protest
“Queensland government: blood on your hands!” It’s a Monday morning, and the cries of up to 1,000 angry Brisbane construction workers echo under the facade of 1 William Street, the extravagant $650 million government office skyscraper commissioned in the dying days of the Newman Liberal Na...CONTINUE READING
Vicious anti-union law on hold – for now
It was predictable that a renewed attack on our unions would be high on the agenda for incoming prime minister Scott Morrison. For a party that can’t agree on how to supply electricity to the country – or on their own leadership – an attack on workers’ organisations can be an important uni...CONTINUE READING