Stick Together

Senator Janet Rice talks about the ongoing Senate committee investigation of temporary visa which will report in August; Kevin Bracken & Dave Oliver address a MUA demo on the subject of Free Trade Deals that are serving Australian workers on a plate to the big end of town; Associate Professor Angela Knox from Sydney University Business School says Job Quality is important to Australia's bottom line.

The campaign for the rights of cleaners has been gaining momentum, with the recent 24-hour strike of the workers in Federal Parliament, and a rally and march organised by the United Voice in Melbourne. Meanwhile, the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union has been gearing for the campaign against further unemployment and welfare cuts. In Ireland, the ongoing dispute between the retail workers at Dunnes and Mandate Trade Union highlights the workers’ struggle for collective bargaining in the country. Interviews with Owen Bennet (Australian Unemployed Union), Dave Gibney (Mandate Trade Union, Ireland)

While the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry down plays its call for removal of penalty rates cleaners call for penalty rate protection at the International Day for Justice for Cleaners rallies; the SDA Coles Deal queried by Fair Work Commission for under award payments.

Trade unions have been active in Timor Leste since 2001 when the Timor Leste Confederation of Trade Unions (KSTL) was formed with support from Australian unions. The major employer at the time was the United Nations and the young country was still under UN administration. Aside from very high unemployment and a government eager to attract foreign investment often at the expense of workers' rights, unions have also been at the forefront of struggles for oil and gas justice in the Timor Sea. Almerio Vila Nova is the General Secretary of the General Workers Union of Timor Leste and represents the younger generation of union activists trying to organise in very challenging economic and political conditions. He shares stories from current and historical industrial struggles as well as some experiences within the clandestine movement as a teenager. The interview has been translated from Tetum so the english translation is voiced by Mark Tyler.

ACTU Congress 2015 preparing for the next Federal election with the declaration that the ACTU was wrong to put aside its campaigning tools after the defeat of the Howard Government. Dave Oliver declares that the ACTU will stop being a 'transactional' organisation and focus on campaigning. Dave Noonan (CFMEU) talks up for the workers in Qatar; and we hear the disapportment regarding the $16 not $27 decision for the minium wage from Fair Work Commission.

We will look at and analyze the stories of workers' struggles in the most precarious and difficult working conditions from the past and present. We will look behind the story of "Jobs for Women" campaign of the Wollongon Steel Mills from the 1980s and 1990s that fought gender segregation and united unemployed and immigrant women together with the unions and the local community. We will also take a look at the National Union of Workers campaign for secure work among the immigrant farm workers, following the Four Corners Report "Slaving Away" on ABC. Interview with Godfrey Moase (National Union of Workers) and Robynn Murphy (Jobs for Women, Wollongong).

The CPSU start rolling stikes across Australia we report on the Bureau of Meterorology workers rallying in Melbourne. The CFMEU have been singled out again by Senate laws to retain coercive powers to building regulator; the ACTU & Victorian Trades Halls sign MOU with West Papuans ahead of Melanesian Spearhead Group conference.

The NSW election was won by the Mike Baird-led Liberal National coalition and the 99-year lease of NSW's transmission and distribution network is all set to go ahead. On the show this week we hear from Electrical Trades Union state secretary Steve Butler about the impact of the sell-off on workers, the community and the environment. We'll also hear from Australian Services Union assistant national secretary Greg McLean about electricity privatisation trends and impacts across the country and and further afield. First though we're going to take a look at the current trend towards privatisation in Australia through a global and historial lens. Professor Sharon Beder is the author of Power Play: The Fight to control the world's electricity and works at the University of Woollongong.

While Australian workers celebrate May Day Aurizon, Australia's biggest frieght company has been given the go ahead by the Fair Work Commission to get rid of 12 conditions and return to the basic safety net when negotiating the EBA with its workers. The Fair Work Commission says maternity leave and job security protection is not in the 'public interest' because it makes a company unproductive. Profit = Public Interest

April 24th marked the second anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster - a case of industrial manslaughter of monstrous proportions. With 1,129 confirmed dead in the aftermath, and thousands of others injured or still missing under the rabble, it was the single biggest disaster in the history of the garments industry worldwide. Joining us for the discussion is Jerome Small (Industrial Organiser, Socialist Alternative) and Samia Khatun (Historian at University of Melbourne, NTEU member)