Interview: Hospo workers fighting back
What happened at Barry cafe? I started working at Barry in February last year, and when I took the job, I didn’t realise I was being underpaid. I was told I would be paid $18 an hour as a flat rate and I didn’t question it … but then friends started telling me to check the Fair Work websit...CONTINUE READING
UNSW staff strike against workload pressure
Staff at the University of New South Wales walked off the job for 24 hours over workload concerns on 30 May. The strike was part of the NTEU’s campaign for a new workplace agreement. More than 100 workers picketed the main gates of the university’s Kensington campus. Around 100 students jo...CONTINUE READING
Dutton attacks workers and asylum seekers with one blow
Three hundred staff at the Australian Red Cross have been sacked as the federal government unleashes its latest attack on asylum seekers. The Home Affairs Department has implemented sweeping cuts to asylum seeker assistance services. Seeking asylum in Australia is a notoriously slow and co...CONTINUE READING
Minimum wage case: Pennies for workers, billions for the rich
The Fair Work Commission awarded a pittance to workers on 1 June, increasing the minimum wage by 3.5 percent – an extra $24.30 per week. Although slightly ahead of inflation, this is less than half of the $50 weekly rise sought by the Australian Council of Trade Unions. According to the co...CONTINUE READING
The problem with the Fair Work Act
The Fair Work Act that is the target of the ACTU’s Change the Rules campaign undermines wages and conditions and hamstrings trade unions. Passed by the Rudd Labor government in 2009, it is a particularly ugly piece of legislation, with many obvious problems. The Howard government’s WorkCho...CONTINUE READING
Blackmail charges withdrawn: another flop for Coalition’s union witch-hunt
Once again the government’s anti-union witch-hunt has come undone. The latest debacle for the Coalition is the spectacular abandonment of blackmail charges against the Victorian CFMMEU’s John Setka and Shaun Reardon. The charges were laid over a health and safety dispute with notorious Mel...CONTINUE READING
Union launches national campaign for minimum ratios in aged care
At rallies across the country on 12 May, the nurses’ union kicked off a national campaign to win nurse-resident ratios in aged care. While ratios currently set minimum staffing levels in Australia’s childcare centres and public hospitals, there are no minimum staff-resident ratios in most...CONTINUE READING
Workers defy Fair Work ban on social golf day
Workers at DP World’s Port Botany terminal have defied a Fair Work Commission ruling ordering them not to participate in a golf day. The commission agreed with the company that attendance at the social day would constitute unlawful industrial action. The decision, issued by a Labor appoint...CONTINUE READING
NSW nurses fighting privatisation of health care
Hundreds of nurses and midwives from Manly and Mona Vale hospitals rallied on 2 May in defence of hard-won conditions. The action was the latest in a five-year campaign against the closure of the two hospitals located in Sydney’s Northern Beaches area. Nurses working at the hospitals are b...CONTINUE READING