Stick Together

The Federal Government policy of internships for young workers at Fast Food outlets came under fire over the Christmas period when it was found a job search agency was fielding young workers under the internship program to cover holiday vacancies at a fast food outlet. We speak to Josh Cullinan from the Fast Food and Retail Workers Union (RAFFWU) for an insight into the issues surround the internship program for young workers. We follow this with a report on the local support for Irish nurses who are going on strike for better wages and conditions on January 30th.

Wongawilli Colliery mineworkers have won a spectacular win against Wollongong Coal after taking strike action. CFMEU's tTony Maher emphasises the importance of this win. “The conversion of permanent, well paid jobs into poorly paid, insecure jobs is a huge issue right across the country. What this win proves is that the trend is reversible. If labour hire workers join their union, we can turn this around.” We finish our report with a look at the Port Kembla Coal Terminal dispute in the same area of NSW.

In addition to your weekly wrap of union news, this week we bring you two stories of workers fighting to receive their basic legal rights. In Brisbane, young workers at a MacDonalds franchise staged a protest after their employer threatened them for asking to take the paid 10 minute breaks. Reporter Craig Garrett was at the protest.We then cross to Sydney and speak with the MUA about their fight for workers on the Manly ferry, who the union says are being underpaid, not even receiving the legal minimum pay. We speak with the Asst Secretary of the MUA's Sydney Branch - Paul Garrett.

Two reports this week. The first takes us to Queensland where across the State local councils are negotiating enterprise bargaining agreements with Redlands City Council staff taking unprecedent industrial action after some of the workers were expected to take a $15,000 a year cut.We then take you to the "We feed you: the migrant farm workers fighting exploitation" session at the ALP Fringe running alongside the main Australian Labor Party Conference held in Adelaide at the end of last year. Run by the National Union of Workers we hear how the visa system is being used to divide workers while visa workers, immigrants, and workers without visas are being exploited to bring fresh food to our tables. Not all doom and gloom the session also brought solutions. (Special thanks to Vivien Langford for the recording of this event).

At the 2018 Spirit of Eureka Dinner Dave Noonan accepted the Spirit of Eureka Award for the CFMEU

Two features today one about what is happening at our Universities with the latest figures showing that less than half the jobs at universities are permanent. We follow this with a look at why industrial manslaughter laws are important with a particular focus on the promised industrial manslaughter laws in Victoria.

The effect of the privatization of public services and what that means for workers and users of those services. A recent report commissioned by the Community and Public Sector Union the CPSU ) is showing worrying results for users and workers.

We follow this with a word with a worker in a call centre who is experiencing the effects of a corporate approach to workers rights on site.

In this edition of Stick Together we look back at a week where both teachers and students went on strike.  Primary and Secondary Teachers in South Australia and Tasmania took strike action last week in support of their wage claims and for improvements to school funding. Not to be outdone, more than ten thousand students around Australia went on strike from school, demanding the government take action to address the climate emergency. We take you to the teacher's rally in Adelaide before heading to Melbourne, where we joined the students' strike.

In this edition of Stick Together we get taste of the mass Change the Rules Campaign rally held in Brisbane on November the 20th the last in the rallies held across the country to bring workers together against industrial laws that have removed the right to strike, penalty rates, cemented casualisation and the labour hire industry. We then give a report on the International Day Against Union Repression.

Today we go to the regional Victorian City of Geelong for a report on the Working Women Get Organised – The Fight for Equal Pay conference run by the Women Unionist Network held at the Geelong Trades Hall following up with look at the work of an organisation called Fitted for Work aiming for practical support to women in their quest for economic security.