Stick Together

Today we mark the centenary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli with a discussion about the Australian labour movement's response to the First World War, and how the war changed Australia's political landscape. Interview with Joan Beaumont, ANU, author of Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War.

We all have to sell our labour at rates dictated by global markets. For some people this means a few cents an hour for others it can be a living wage that provides housing and food security. For those who set their own pay rates because they own the means of production it can be millions of dollars an hour. Casey Jenkins has just finished performing 3 weeks of a performance art piece called Body of Work at Dark Horse Experiment in Franklin Lane exploring the relationship between worker and boss and how it's mediated by money and power.http://casey-jenkins.com/artist/bodyofwork/

Marxism Conference 2015 concluded recently in Melbourne. Among a range of prominent international and local speakers, the two that stood out the most were Emory Douglas, the former Minister for Culture of the Black Panther Party, and Eamonn McCann, a long-time Irish socialist and civil rights campaigner. The show's topic focused on the experience of the two activists and the assessment of today's situation with regards to the struggle against austerity and racism.

Swinburne settles court case with NTEU, which alleged adverse action when Swinburne tried to move staff into a subsidiary company, with lower pay and conditions. Centrelink and Medicare workers take 10 days of industrial action nationwide. And labour activists criticise cuts to penalty rates in a template agreement between the SDA and Business South Australia. Interviews with Colin Long, Vic Secretary NTEU, Lisa Newman, deputy president CPSU, and Anthony Main, organiser with Socialist Party and UNITE union.

This episode asks the question why are short term visas being used to put Australian film technicians out of work when the ICC World Cup Cricket is playing in town. Ged Kearney the ACTU President explains why it is so important that wage inequality between women and men needs to be change.

The ban on uranium mining will be reinstated by the Palaszczuk government in QLD. Under the LNP government the state was opened up for exploration and mining despite a decades-long ban. The re-instatement of the ban follows pressure from unions, especially the ETU and AMWU, and community campaigns against the re-opening of mines in Northern and Northwestern QLD. We speak with AMWU national president Andrew Dettmer, David Sewell from the Citizens Against Mining Ben Lomond and Wendy Tubman from the North Queensland Conservation Council.

The ACTU called a national day of action on March 4, 2015 as the start of the unions campaign to fight back against the Federal Governments review of all basic working conditions throught the Productivity Commission. This report takes us to the Melbourne rally.

Community Organizing among trade unions is on the rise again, so what can we learn from the experiences around the world? We will take a look at the Community Membership initiative of Unite the Union in Britain, as well as the work conducted by political organising centre, Trademark, among Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast. Interviews with Kelly Tomlinson (Unite the Union) and Stevie Nolan (Trademark).

Coles tries to cut pay and conditions by shutting the meat workers union out of its latest EBA; interview with Paul Conway, Victorian secretary AMIEU. And the Greens push for portable long-service leave rights across Australia; interview with Greens MLA for South Australia Tammy Franks.

Calls for people working on 457 and 417 visas to be paid award rates and conditions. Recent scandals have show the bugs under the rock of the Abbott Governments employment policy rock as the government takes the country on a head long charge into the global rush to the bottom when it comes to labour hire.