Stick Together

Today we are finding out about the Indo Pacific Economic Framework, the latest free trade deal being hammered out between the US and thirteen Indo Pacific Nations including Australia. We hear from Arthur Stamoulis, from Trade Justice Education Fund, for an overview of IPEFand then from Patrick Wadell, from AFL - CIO Technology Institute, for a look at the issues in a digital world when it comes to trade deals.Links to Trade Justice Education Fund actions and information:Write IPEF NegotiatorsLike and share on socials!TwitterInstagram FBOrganizational Sign-On Letter on IPEF

Professor Michael Mann discusses how the new political leaders in the United States and Australia may give us hope to shift climate policy that has been left behind for so long. Join host James Brennan as they discuss these issues ahead of Michael's upcoming NZ and Australian tour.

At the end of 2022 WRAW Women's Rights at Work Conference gave centre stage to some very interesting discussions around what could be called industrial issues. Giving an insight into how far ranging and inclusive the broader Union movement sees its role when it comes to organising.  Hyeseon Jeong from the Migrant Workers Centre  makes it plain that Migration policy is an industrial issue while Jamad Hersi, from the Women of Colour Network and a CPSU member, talks about how women of colour have been changing the culture at the Victorian Public Service.

On the 25th of November there was a sea of orange on the steps of Victorian Parliament House as people gathered at the start of the walk Against Family Domestic Violence. The orange hats from Respect Victoria called for positive change. In today’s program we hear from people at the rally, speakers and an ASU rep who was part of the ground breaking eba negotiation that put domestic violence leave in for the first time at Surf Coast Council. Since then the passing of the 10 Days Paid Domestic Violence Leave Legislation has been passed into Federal Law see.

Host James Brennan reflects back on the political year of 2022 with elections reaffirming a Labor governance across a lot fo the country and looking at some of the issues covered throughout the year. We also revisit one of the great interviews from earlier in the year with Kamala Emanuel on the impact of Row v Wade in Australia.

The FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been built on the bones of thousands of exploited immigrant workers from poor countries. Today we explore the actual practicalities of those workers. Nigel Davies a now retired CFMEU official who was part of the red card for FIFA campaign talks about his experience of doing an OH&S walk through of the conditions for these workers housed in shipping containers in the desert of Qatar in 50 degree heat with no air conditioning and inadequate water supplies where 20 year olds died when their bodies shut down and ended up being shipped back to their home countries in body bags and registered as dieing of natural causes giving their families no access to compensation. Billions of dollars were spend to put on these games but not one penny could be spared for the workers liveable conditions leaving only the question why?

This week I spoke with Ellise from the Renters and Housing Union about the work they have been doing to support tenants in the current housing crisis. We spoke about the challenges tenants face in a system skewed towards investors and the importance of building solidarity amongst members.

Leading the program today is the news from the Svitzer dispute. The threat by Svitzer the Danish multinational, with a near monopoly on towage in Australian ports, to lock out workers came to a head on Friday 18th of November with the Fair Work Commission pulling rank over the threat to the entire Australian economy of such an action.

Stick Together host James Brennan speaks with IPAN (Independent and Peaceful Australia Network) chairperson Annette Brownlie about the upcoming national conference.

The most recent Women's Right's at Work conference held at the Melbourne ETU offices in North Melbourne brought Union women from across industries to discuss issues of equity and fight back.  A representative of Australia Superannuation gave an enlightening analysis of how super at the moment is not working for women and then goes on to see how this could be altered. So first up why super isn’t delivering enough for women, then what are the four factors behind this and finally what can be done.