Stick Together

Last week we heard from the voices of workers and refugees trying to keep their head above water during the covid-19 pandemic. Over the past week the Federal Government has put to parliament the $130 billion package of public funds to keep 6 million people technically at work during the pandemic. There are lots of things going on in regards this wage subsidy and workers rights which may make sense during an epidemic but may set a trend which after six months is up may seem problematic for workers.  In this program we take some time to talk with Alison Pennington, senior economist with the Centre for Future Work about what the covid-19 epidemic, workers and the governments response. We were talking a day before the Parliament sat to pass the LNP’s rules based plan but Alison’s analysis is uncanny in its perception.

Loads of news about how workers all over the country are standing up for their rights at work and an unemployment crisis.Peter Arndt talks about the work of the Queensland Community Alliance on the ongoing wage subsidy campaign.Marcus Banks talks about the group Unionists for Refugees and what they are doing to support refugees and asylum seekers, particularly during this uncertain time.

The ACTU is calling for a two week payment for all workers, what ever their status, if they are unable to go to work during the Covid-19 virus.What about the issues of climate & inequality. Can we afford to have the covid-19 virus be used to worsen these growing emergencies?

Australia is in lock down, Deserted streets, empty supermarket shelves, stage & picture theatres shut down, concert & festivals cancelled, galleries and libraries closed. Workers are facing the prospect of self isolation for up to fourteen days to contain the spread of the Covid – 19 virus. At the front line the causualised workforce made desperate by low wages, no conditions and the prospect of homelessness.

This has been an important week for workers internationally and locally. In Victoria and Tasmania we celebrate the first eight hour day victory as our Labour Day on Monday March 9th. This was a world first and as legend has it stone masons working on Melbourne University in 1856 downed tools and walked from from work site to the next advocating and gaining support for the idea of eight hours work eight hours recreation and eight hours rest. It was also about sharing out the work not just over working some. Great idea. A reasonable idea. A workers idea. Having won it so long ago Employers, Governments, business have been chipping chipping away until now we have insecure work, casualisation, under employment and a predatory privatised social security system all over again. But workers are studying the issues within Unions remembering the victories of the past. During the past week was International Women’s Day or as we like to call it International Working Women’s Day because it was in fact working women coming together to fight low wages and nasty conditions that struck the first blow for International woman’s day. But just like the roll back on the eight hour day charter the fight for Safety, Respect and Equality for women at work is still on and we report from last week’s WRAW Women’s Rights at Work Conference.

Leading up to the recent fires there was an acrimonious fight going on in Victoria around the role of professional fire fighters and the volunteer status of the CFA. It would be fair to say that the Liberals characterised the campaign to extend the coverage of the United Fire Fighters Union members – the professional fighter fighters – as an attack on volunteerism. We hear from Peter Marshall the secretary of the UFU as Victoria moves to the creation of Fire Rescue Victoria on July 1 with new boundaries for the two services. We finish with a piece featuring the former Labour premier of Western Australia Carmen Lawrence now a Professor at Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia talking about crossing the divide when it comes to climate change action and a possible jobs guarantee.

The Ensuring Integrity Bill aiming to put Unions on the chopping block and the universal introduction of the cashless welfare card including for old age pensioners.

The Federal Government defunding Aboriginal Organisations while giving WesFarmers $15.6 million for an employment scheme they probably should be doing anyway. Is this a legitimate use of the funds in the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS)?

Today we go to the murky machinations of the Federal Governments move to privatise our Visa system and hear from Grill’d workers standing up against the use of trainee-ships to screw young workers out of an honest days pay for an honest day’s work.

In a battle for community versus corporate profit Tram drivers in Melbourne say no to part time contracts.Yarra Trams and the workers are in a battle over such part time contracts that the workers see as the demise of their job security and the very culture of service and safety that under pins public transport. Yarra Tram sees profits.