On The Job

The recent budget handed down by Labor treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered a huge win for families all across Australia with the extension of Paid Parental Leave to 26 weeks, and more affordable early childhood education and care.

Like all ground-breaking change, it didn't happen by accident.

Unions and their allies have been campaigning tirelessly for over a decade to revamp Paid Parental Leave, better and affordable early childhood education, and the status of workers in the sector.

Georgie Dent has been at the forefront of these campaigns.

Georgie is Executive Director at The Parenthood, and has been central to the campaign for change.

She joins us on this week's podcast.

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* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How as your weekend? I hope it was cracking good fun!

Did you know that not too long ago the idea of 'the weekend' didn't exist? Two days off in succession for workers to enjoy leisure time was unthinkable for generations of workers.

Our historian, Dr. Liam Byrne is once again our guest on the pod. He's here to tell us the history of how Unions and workers created the weekend.
_____________________________________________________________

* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last Tuesday night, treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the first Labor budget in nine years. For workers and Unions, it was an evening of milestones.

As the Treasurer outlined his Budget, the inclusion of 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave and a significant revamp of paid parental leave represented huge victories for a series of long running Union campaigns.

Michele O'Neil is the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). She joins us on the pod after a landmark week in Canberra.

_____________________________________________________________

* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The gender pay gap remains unacceptably and woefully high.

Across Australia, it remains a fact that women on average earn around 14% less than their male counterparts.

In the ACT though, there's an example of how you can not only close the gap - but end it.

Maddy Northam is The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) ACT Regional Secretary. She joins us to tell us how it was achieved.

_____________________________________________________________

* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Job turns 100 this week! 

Yep, it's our 100th episode, and I want to thank you for being part of the journey. 

This week, we do a bit of California dreaming, and meet one of the heroes of Cali's fast-food workers movement.

California has just passed its most significant labour rights act on decades, AB257, which raises the hourly wage to $22 an hour and guarantees worker representation on a new board that will oversee wages and conditions in the industry.

Ingrid Vilorio has been a Jack in the Box worker for 2 years, is married, and has a son with special needs. During the pandemic she got Covid-19 at work and passed the virus to her special needs son. She was forced to quarantine and miss work. Ingrid was denied Covid pay and told by her supervisor that she did not qualify for sick pay and had to go on strike to win sick pay that she was entitled to under California law.

She joined the Fight for $15 and a Union because she was tired of verbal harassment from her supervisor, wage theft and unsafe working conditions during the Covid pandemic. She continues to be an active leader, advocating for a voice on the job, most recently through the passage of AB 257.

Ingrid is our special guest on this week's pod.
_____________________________________________________________

* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For many workers, recent climactic events like bushfires and floods have not only caused huge disruption in their personal lives, they've caused chaos in their working lives as well.

In response, workers at the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) have taken the lead on this issue.

They've just negotiated something called Climate Disaster Leave.

Grace Vegesana is a Climate & Racial Justice Campaigner with AYCC and she's our guest on this week's pod.

AYCC - https://www.aycc.org.au/

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Great Britain is facing an economic crisis and a grim winter as the Tory government, under new Prime Minister Liz Truss, cuts taxes for the wealthy as ordinary people struggle to heat their homes and put food on the table.

This latest trickledown, meltdown has sunk the British pound, and workers and trade Unions are once again readying to take on the Conservative government that has all but abandoned working people.

Britain saw a wave of industrial action across all sectors as it sweltered through summer, and it's likely to see plenty more as workers and unions say enough is enough.

Our guest this week is Kevin Rowan. Kevin is Head of Organising, Services and Learning with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Great Britain.
Kevin talks with us about how there's still power in a Union!

_____________________________________________________________

* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As another AFL season reaches its crescendo, it's an opportunity to reflect on how the Australian game has become such an extraordinary cultural phenomenon.

The game, which emerged out of the paddocks and fields of mid 19th Century Melbourne, has had many versions of its origin story told. One part of its history that is often overlooked is the role that organised workers and their unions had in the success of footy as a spectator sport.

Dr. Tony Ward is a historian based at Melbourne University who has researched this part of Aussie Rules history. He joins us for the opening bounce on this week's edition of "On the Job".

Read Dr Tony Ward's Aussie Rules rules thanks to the eight-hour working day

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* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Millions of Australian workers know what it's like to shiver through a winter in a rental property that is too cold, without enough heating, or is drafty or damp.

It impacts your wellbeing, mental health and can actually make you sick.

The last thing people on low wages and in insecure work need in their lives is to miss work because they're ill.

Better Renting is an organisation that campaigns to improve the quality of rental properties to ensure renters getter a better deal and stay healthy.

Their recent survey revealed that the vast majority of renters in Australia are living in housing that could be making them sick.

Joel Dignam is the Executive Director of Better Renting. He is our guest. We also hear from ACTU Assistant Secretary, Liam O'Brien, on why substandard housing is a work and safety issue as well.
_____________________________________________________________

* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For decades, Qantas was an institution that inspired a form of civic pride in most Australians.

It was an airline with an impeccable safety record, a reputation for excellence in service, as well as being a great place to work.

In 2022, Qantas' stellar reputation is in tatters, replaced by a long list of grievances - delayed and cancelled flights, lost baggage and safety concerns.

At the heart of this has been CEO Alan Joyce's relentless job stripping, cost cutting and a union busting crusade that has made Qantas a pariah.

Last week, ABC TV's "4 Corners" did an investigation into the goings on at Qantas. What it found was a company at war with its workforce and struggling to deliver for its customers.

Michael Kaine, National Secretary of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) is our guest on the pod this week, to discuss Qantas - the wounded kangaroo.

_____________________________________________________________

* You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - [email protected]

*On the Job is made by Australian Unions.

More about On The Job podcast

Need help with working conditions?

Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466

About the host

Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFrankly

Support the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.