The Guardian • union
Samoan workers pressured to quit union, told unions are for “white people”
It emerged last month that Samoan workers have been pressured by a senior official of their government not to join trade unions in Australia. Aufa’i...
Read moreTeamsters vote on Amazon union initiative
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the largest unions in the United States, voted 24th June to approve a resolution titled “Building Worker Power at Amazon.”
Read moreCoronavirus upends world of work, opens workers’ eyes to unions
In the months since the coronavirus pandemic was officially declared in the US on 13th March, 2020, the nation’s world of work has turned upside down.
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Issue #2003
Amazon Labor Union bolsters against Bezos backlash
US Amazon workers and union organisers are hard at work on and off the clock fighting back against the multi-billion-dollar transnational corporation. Earlier this April,...
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Issue #2052
May Day – Millions march around the world
People squeezed by inflation and demanding economic justice took to streets across Asia, Europe, and the Americas to mark May Day, in an outpouring of...
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Issue #2022
Cuba’s day of liberation celebrated in Sydney
On 26th July 26 1959 an armed force led by Fidel Castro stormed the Moncada Barracks in Cuba, leading to the liberation of the Cuban...
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Issue #2018
Public sector health services workers make a stand – WA
As part of the campaign by public sector workers in Western Australia, members of the Health Services Union and United Workers Union – the two...
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Issue #2032
Huge union delegation supports Gomeroi rights against Santos’s First Nations and environmental destruction
The union movement has mobilised in solidarity with the Gomeroi people’s struggle against the climate-wrecking Pilliga/Narrabri coal seam gas mining operation on Gomeroi lands in...
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Issue #2017
Class struggle is primary
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an edited version of a speech delivered by CPA Assistant General Secretary David Matters on the reissuing of comrade Jack...
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Issue #2063
GLOBAL BRIEFS
KENYA: Police have been ordered not to report deaths amid protests against the rising cost of living. While police in Kenya have long been accused...
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Issue #1961
Wharfies gain big wins in waterfront struggle – more to come, more to win!!
The waterfront has been in a significant struggle over the last three years.
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Issue #2021
WEASEL WORDS
What does it mean to be “resilient”? Is “wellness” a good thing? Well it depends on who you ask in this fortnight’s edition of Weasel...
Read moreSick Pay Guarantee a step in the right direction
The Victorian government has recently launched a Sick Pay Guarantee pilot program for casual workers. Under the scheme, casuals and contract workers in certain industries...
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Issue #2026
Workers in unions prevent Apple employees being squeezed for excessive hours and low pay
The workers that bring you the “Genius bar” at Apple have made a clever move: they’ve joined their union. Apple tried to rush though a...
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Issue #2031
WEASEL WORDS
SOVEREIGN /ˈsɒv.ər.ɪn/ A sovereign country, Wikipedia tells us, is “a political entity […] that has supreme legitimate authority over territory.” Unless you’re one of those...
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Issue #2012
Public Sector Alliance mass bargaining meeting, workers Embassy Parliament House – Perth
In mid-2021, unions with members in the Western Australian Public Sector formed the Public Sector Alliance (PSA) to present a united position on a wage...
Read moreHow the budget fails the elderly, women, and children
The Morrison Government’s attempt to show a commitment to women in this Budget ultimately does not reach the women it’s supposed to benefit.
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Issue #2018
Workplace deaths and serious injuries on the rise
Since 2018 there has been a thirty-two per cent increase in deaths at work and an eight per cent increase in serious workplace injuries. There...
Read moreUWU General Mills strike – Rooty Hill, NSW
Since 4th June, United Workers Union’ (UWU) workers at the US-owned General Mills (GM) Rooty Hill factory have been on strike.
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Issue #1990
Public Sector Alliance action
Earlier this year, six unions – CPSU/CSA, SSTUWA, UWU, RTBU, and HSU – allied to form the Public Sector Alliance (PSA).
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Issue #2023
WEASEL WORDS
BOLD /bəʊld/ A good thing to be! Superman is bold. Action heroes are bold. Used weaselly, “bold” means that a politician is going to do...
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Issue #1969
Maritime Union of Australia takes the fight to Parliament House
Canberra is known for its cold mornings, and the 23rd June was no exception.
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Issue #2018
DINGO
On the back of a decade of campaigning by unions for ten days paid family and domestic violence leave, the Albanese Government has introduced legislation...
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Issue #2036
New year’s greeting from the president
It feels like only a few months have passed since I wrote a season’s greeting for 2022. It was the year our 14th Congress, delayed...
Read moreThe IR myth
The circus of lies and propaganda about waterfront productivity and reform has resurfaced in debate across the Australian media.
Read moreMenulog trial marks gig milestone
The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) has welcomed the commencement of Menulog’s employment trial as an important milestone toward achieving minimum rights and standards in the food delivery industry.
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Issue #1969
Workers win at General Mills!
On 25th June, United Workers Union (UWU) members at the General Mills (GM) factory in Rooty Hills, Sydney, returned to work after three weeks of strike action.
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Issue #1972
Better Read Than Dead workers win after historic industrial action
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) announced that on Tuesday 27th July, Better Read Than Dead workers unanimously endorsed an in principle agreement...
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Issue #2015
Curry with comrades night – a CPA SA tradition
Through a close association with the Port Adelaide United Workers’ Club, the CPA Port Adelaide branch has access to two fine venues for celebrations and...
Read moreUrgent action needed to rescue Australian journalism
A new study pointing to a crisis in Australian public interest journalism demands urgent government action to safeguard our democracy.
Read moreUnionists protest as Better Read Than Dead management renege on deal
Workers at Better Read Than Dead have recommenced industrial action after management reneged on an in principle deal reached in July this year.
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Issue #1989
Sydney community rallies in support of booksellers
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) organised a protest in Sydney’s Camperdown Memorial Park
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Issue #2022
Amazon free one-day delivery built on extreme exploitation
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has announced plans to roll out free one-day delivery for hundreds of thousands of products in Melbourne and Sydney...
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Issue #2042
Call Unanswered
Unanswered phone calls at Services Australia reflect the attraction and retention issues plaguing the Australian Public Service (APS), according to the Community and Public Sector...
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Issue #2024
Melbourne hosts another successful CPA National School
Who started smoking cigars earlier, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Fidel Castro? Which scientific discovery was announced in The Daily Worker (a British communist paper) before anyone...
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Issue #2001
Aged care workers yet to receive their bonus payment
A survey of 1000 aged care workers conducted by the United Workers’ Union (UWU) has revealed that ninety-seven per cent of aged care workers are...
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Issue #2025
Sydney train strike update
Plans to disable the ticket readers at Sydney’s metro train stations are back on the table after the RTBU filed a new application for industrial...
Read moreMorrison must adopt all respect@work recommendations
The ACTU will appear at the Senate inquiry into the Morrison government’s proposed changes to the Fair Work and Sex Discrimination Acts in response to...
Read moreRAFFWU to fight for the right to bargain in the Federal Court
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) has pledged to take Coles Supermarkets to the Federal Court in a bid to force the supermarket giant to commence negotiating a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
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Issue #2035
CPA National School – Brisbane
In November, the Brisbane Branch held its CPA National Party School. It began with a Trivia night on Friday, at the Labour Trades Hall in...
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Issue #2030
RAFFWU members strike at Apple
Members of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) went on strike in the first nationally co-ordinated industrial action in retail in Australian history....
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Issue #2033
Time for a centralised bargaining system
Prior to the adoption of the Accord in 1983 between the Labor government and the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Australia had a highly centralised...
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Issue #2062
Hollywood strike Q&A
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) produced the following for its members’ information in response to the industrial action by MEAA’s fraternal union in...
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Issue #2042
“Hold mining companies to account”
Last week two mineworkers, Dylan Langridge and Trevor Davis, were killed at work at the Dugald River zinc mine in north-west Queensland. Just prior to...
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Issue #2003
May Day – Demand real change
Without strong, militant unions workers are powerless. The trade union movement has been targeted by successive governments to the point where industrial action is outlawed...
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Issue #2029
Communists and the trade unions with Alex Gordon (RMT/CPB)
On the 15th October the NSW state committee hosted a talk by National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) President and leading member...
Read moreIncome support during post-test isolation
Unions NSW have had a breakthrough for workers, winning a $320 COVID Test and Isolate support payment from the NSW Coalition government to cover obligatory stay-at-home time following a COVID test. Victoria has a similar $450 Coronavirus Test Isolation Payment.
Read moreA win for farmworkers as FWC rules on minimum wage
Workers and union organisers with the United Workers Union (UWU) and the Australian Workers Union (AWU) are celebrating a massive win ...
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Issue #2063
DINGO
The union movement extended its thoughts to the loved ones of the food delivery rider who tragically lost his life in Sydney last week working...
Read moreRAFFWU protected action ballot order marks new era for retail unionism
On 22nd June 2021, the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) secured a Protected Action Ballot Order for its workers at the ironically named Sydney bookstore “Better Read Than Dead.”
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Issue #2048
Action for jobs, pay, safety
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union members launched major rallies across Australia on Wednesday 5th April as anger mounts over serious issues facing the nation...
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Issue #2010
Public sector workers walk off on Perrottet “proposal”
Tens of thousands of public servants walked off the job in a strike defying the Premier’s inaction, posturing, and insulting behaviour. The Public Service Association...
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Issue #1982
Beware fake unions!
They claim they are a cheaper and “independent alternative” to registered trade unions.
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Issue #2038
Every child
Every child has the right to a high-quality education, delivered by qualified and professional teachers in their local neighbourhood. It is Australia’s public education system...
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Issue #2042
International Women’s Day
Over the past 100 years or more Australian women have made many gains but huge hurdles remain to be overcome. The struggle is far from...
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Issue #1964
MUA stands with Traditional Land Owners
The MUA has once again shown how, with militant leadership, the trade union movement can be a vehicle for taking the workers’ movement to social issues.
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Issue #2011
Abolish the ABCC
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has used the courts to hit building and construction unions with fines of $15.262 million since 2nd December...
Read moreMcCormick’s picket
Thursday 25th March marked four weeks since workers at McCormick Foods factory went on strike late in February. Workers, with the support of the community, have been operating a 24/7 picket out the front of the factory in Clayton South in Victoria.
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Issue #2047
DINGO
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) members at the ABC have secured big wins after reaching agreement with management for their new EBA. The deal...
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Issue #2046
Illawarra renewable energy zone to deliver long-term work
Maritime workers living and working in the Illawarra are excited by the opportunities and long-term industry development that will come from the declaration by the...
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Issue #2047
“Port Kembla, not Fort Kembla”
Last month the Maritime Union of Australia’s (MUA) Southern NSW Branch Secretary Mick Cross welcomed news that Port Kembla will become a large-scale venue for...
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Issue #2053
“We stand shoulder to shoulder”
The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant, class-oriented voice, representing 105 million workers who live, work, and struggle in 133 countries of the 5...
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Issue #2060
Migrant worker protections
Unions have welcomed the Albanese government’s announcement of new measures to protect migrant workers from exploitation. The government’s proposed package of measures includes new criminal...
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Issue #2043
Employers threaten to withhold aged care wages
The country’s largest union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), has raised concerns that some aged care providers are trying to short-change underpaid nurses...
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Issue #2050
Coles bargaining 2023: Not down down
RAFFWU, the Retail And Fast Food Workers Union is bargaining for members at Coles. Workers at Australia’s second-biggest supermarket chain can sign up to have...
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Issue #2057
A win for workers and union advocacy
The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) has welcomed a suite of major changes to the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme which should provide much-needed protections...
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