On 24 April 2013 the eight-story Rana Plaza building in Dhaka Bangladesh collapsed. The owners of a number of garment factories in the building had ignored the most basic safety regulations, and forced workers to keep working when it was clear the walls were cracking. In Bangladesh, workers are paid monthly, at the end of the month. The collapse happened on the 24th, and workers were threatened with non payment of wages, if they didn’t enter the clearly unstable building. The confirmed death toll was 1,130. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued.Rana Plaza shows how little the fashion brands care about the lives of the workers that produce the clothes that make them insane profits. Guests today are Rupali Akter and Taslima Akter. Rupali is a survivor of the Rana Plazar collapse. She was in the building on the day, and she was buried under the rubble for 17 hours before being rescued. Taslima Akter is a photo journalist and activist. She was onsite in the immediate aftermath, documenting and bearing witness to the horror. Taslima is the Secretary and Rupali is the President of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Solidarity. Taslima is interpreting for Rupali in this interview.This interview was conducted in 2023, during an international solidarity visit to Melbourne to commemorate 10 years since the collapse. Today, 12 years later, not much has changed other than garment workers were instrumental in the self-imposed exile of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

When Chris Breen and his wife lost their baby Priya when she was just six weeks old, they needed time to grieve.But while Chris was still able to take his planned three months of parental leave, his wife, who goes by the name Priya’s mum, was forced back to work.That's because her planned paid maternity leave was cancelled by her employer. The two embarked on an important but very emotional campaign to ensure that paid parental leave cannot be cancelled in the event of still birth or infant mortality. I had the privilege of speaking with both of them, and here’s their story and campaign.Sign the petition here

This episode with host James Brennan brings you union news and an interview with Alexis Vassiley author of the new book Striking ore 'The Rise and fall of union power in the Pilbara'. Striking ore focuses on the workers themselves including their agitating for hard won breakthroughs in pay, conditions and safety.

After a 74-hour strike by 1,000 workers, the Nexperia Philippines Workers’ Union secured the reinstatement of union leaders Mary Ann Castillo (president) and Girlie Battad (union official), along with a PHP50 (US$0.87) wage increase over three years. My guest today is Rochelle Porras from Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research in the Philippines.

The Wills electorate is currently held by Labor MP Peter Kahlil who has been the elected representative since 2016. This show is not to endorse any candidates for the election but is looking into a key seat in the federal election. Some of the issues we have been covering on the show such as the CFMEU, Palestine, Socialist politics, military spending, cost of living and the parties connection to the union movement will be contested down Sydney road.As we look to see the impact of some of these issues on the election, in this episode I speak with two members of the Greens Wills campaign to hear what the mood on the ground is like with the federal election announcement imminent.

In today's program we continue our focus on how workers win against the odds we look at the Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ where a coalition of faith groups, community organizations and unions worked in partnership starting in 2012 on the Living Wage Campaign. We speak with former Union Organizer turned author Lyndy McIntyre about the campaign which she writes about in her document of the struggle Power to Win available at John Reed Books.

In today's program we ask the question how do people get positive change at work and in their communities when the powers that be seem to be against them?  First we hear from two industrial campaigns that gained positive outcomes for the workers involved.

We’ve been covering the recent Victorian Government’s announcement in relation to the slashing of 3000 jobs across the Victorian public service. And we’ve been covering a rank n file caucus of workers in the Victorian Public Service, that is fighting to take back their union. A Voice For Members organised against the job cuts, and in defence of their own jobs.The rally was held on the steps of Parliament House on Tuesday 4 March, which was a parliamentary sitting day.Today’s show will broadcast three of the speeches delivered at that rally, starting with Zoya, a public servant working in the Department of Education.

Today we have two reports. The first puts the experiences of meat processing workers in Australia under the PALM (Pacific Australian Labour Mobility) scheme under the microscope. Pyria Kunjan speaks with Ema Moolachand about a recent RMIT report here (exhibition here report here petition here) We follow with a word from people who gathered for the Pride March down Fitzroy St, St Kilda on the 2 of February here. Song: Tongan Singer/Songwriter Tyra Lewis - Innocent.

On this weeks episode of Stick Together host James Brennan speaks with author Santilla Chingaipe about her book 'Black Covcits: How slavery shaped Australia.'The discussion talk about how this legacy of convicts of African descent were aboard the first fleet shapes modern Australian racism. The impact of Peter Dutton and the Murdoch media's frenzy of racist hysteria around African gangs on African Australian's today.