Stick Together

In addition to a weekly wrap of union news, this week we report on the War Against Workers Rally in Melbourne. We also speak with Tony Sheldon about the Senate inquiry into trucking.

The Healthy Welfare Card is a Coalition Government policy that will forcibly restrict 80% of unemployed Australian’s Newstart entitlement to a VISA-style debit card under the pretext of preventing unemployed workers from buying alcohol and drugs.On this week's show Owen Bennett  from the Australian Unemployed Workers Union Joins us by phone to discuss the cashless card program.We also speak with Beth Vincent-Pietsch from the Community and Public Sector Union to discuss the Australian Public Sector Commission's remuneration report which shows an average gender pay gap of 8.6%.

In addition to your weekly wrap of national union news, this week we feature highlights of a recent forum, held by the SEARCH Foundation about the importance of penalty rates and the union movement's response to the proposed cuts by the Fair Work Commission.

The Brisbane City Council has "locked out" members of the Electrical Trades Union the ETU for taking legal protected action over roster changes. University Students and Pensioners rallied against the most recent Federal Budget.

In addition to a weekly wrap of union news, this week we report on the Walk with Educators Rally in Melbourne.  We also speak with Denis Rogatyuk about the upcoming UK elections.

On this week's show, along with the weekly news wrap, we're back out the front of the ALP state conference to hear from HACSU about their ongoing fight with the Victorian Labor government over the plans to privatize disability services.Collin Hesse talks to MEAA CEO Paul Murphy about the recent strike at Fairfax and Annie Mcloughlin speaks with Sally McManus about the future struggles of our movement.

This week in addition to the weekly wrap of union news, we examine the cuts to higher education included in last week's Federal Budget. We talk with both staff and student representatives about what the cuts will mean.If you'd like to donate to the Carter Holt Harvey workers, you can head to www.myrtleford-whymrabbott.nationbuilder.com

News from Loy Yang, FairFax and Queensland MUA.Privatising of community services is a recipe for putting profit before people. We speak to Simone White from the NSW  Rape and Domestic Violence Service and a ASU member.We will follow up why Ged Kearney from the ACTU resigned from the Federal Governments Ministerial Advisory Council for Skilled Migration (MASCM) as soon as Turnbull announced the 457 visa would be dropped.

In addition to a weekly wrap of union news, this week we report on the International Workers Memorial Service in Melbourne. We also cover the abuse of traineeship wages in the hospitality sector.

On this week's show we look at the Federal Government's Prepare, Trial and Hire Program, PaTH. First announced in the 2016 Budget and recently launched, despite legislation for it's full implementation not yet passing the senate.