StarTrack workers have gone above and beyond during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that Australia's parcel delivery system is timely and efficient, doing crucial work to transport a huge surge in demand for online orders as well as important freight, vital medical supplies and crucial COVID-19 vaccines. It is no secret that Australia Post Group and it's StarTrack arm of the business have recorded mega-profits during the pandemic. In an email to all staff on 23rd Feb, 2022, Australia Post CEO & Managing Director Paul Graham advised half-yearly results: • Group revenue: $4.80 billion, up 10.4 per cent on last year • Group profit before tax: $199.8 million, up 19.9 per cent on last year • Parcels and Services revenue: $3.87 billion, up 13.6 per cent on last year Graham then stated "These numbers would not have been possible without all of you and the important work you do every day." While StarTrack has made $3.87 billion, they are refusing to allow the very same staff that turned this profit to meet during paid time to discuss their own Enterprise Agreement. This is outrageous! The ASU asked StarTrack to accommodate workers right to attend Union meetings by allowing the necessary changes to breaks so that workers can attend during their lunchtime. StarTrack management should be working with the ASU to help employees make their voices heard in the enterprise agreement negotiations. If you agree, sign the ASU petition today!

It's important to acknowledge AV staff years of service and provide fair entitlements to all staff. A mother who has worked fulltime in Ambulance Victoria for 9 years returns to work from maternity leave to undertake 20 hours of work per week. When she takes her LSL, she will not receive payment based on her years of service within Ambulance Victoria but the 20 hours per week she has most recently worked. This discrepancy impacts women, care-takers, and staff who are working part-time even though they have worked fulltime for many years within the service. AEAV members believe it is discriminatory and unfair to not acknowledge staff years of service simply because a staff member has more recently worked part-time.

In 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of disappearing and presents more risks to health and safety than ever before. New variants like Delta and Omicron are tearing through our community and workplaces. With the risk of workplace transmission ever-increasing, we need strong measures to keep COVID-19 as far as possible from spreading within our university community. As numerous examples have shown, an outbreak at a workplace like ours where there are so many individuals coming and going can have disastrous consequences. Teaching delivery and research can be disrupted or even halted entirely, but the worst effects will be felt by us, the workers. We ask that ACU takes steps to limit the impact by consulting staff and implementing sensible measures. ACU senior management has arbitrarily set February 14 as the date for staff to return to campus. However, they have failed to undertake genuine consultation with staff regarding the potential risks associated with the return to campus and how these risks may be controlled. This has been highlighted by the fact that the University only released its COVID Risk Assessment document for consultation on February 10, just two business days prior to the return to campus.

The TWU has received an alarming number of reports from drivers and transport workers who are isolating because they are symptomatic or have identified as close contacts. In addition, we’ve had similar discussions with employers. These essential workers are unable to access PCR testing stations, or test themselves due to shortages of Rapid Antigen Tests. They remain in isolation and symptomatic for up to seven days without access to testing kits. This has resulted in severe driver and labour shortages, and dwindling stock in supermarkets and throughout the supply chain. With the rising infections, and without priority access to Rapid Antigen Tests, this situation will be catastrophic for the industry, associated industries and the public at large.

Children are vulnerable and need to be protected not only with their current health but also future health. COVID is disruptive to ECC and parents and both require financial support. If the government does not provide this support you will see people leave jobs and ECC settings which will have ramifications on tax revenue and impact many small businesses. Women have been disproportionately been impacted in this situation from both the ECC which had a large female demographic to working mothers taking on a disproportionate load when keeping children home in addition to continue working from home for over 2 years.

Workers deserve fair wages and conditions are working throughout the pandemic.

The governemnt has given relief packages and tax benefits to businesses to tide over this crisis period. Free food grains are distributed through public distribution systems and a small relief was given to people under poverty line in direct benefit transfer. But what about the workers? The workers in urban areas have no money to pay the rent or school fees for their children. Paid leave for COVID 19 affected workers will ensure that their families do not go hungry during the breadwinners illness. It is important to have proper nourishing food to recover from COVID 19. If the wages during the COVID 19 illness are not paid then not only the worker but his/her family members will be victims of the pandemic. It is to ensure food on the plates for the family that we demand Paid Leave for COVID 19 Affected Workers.

Your focus is a barrier to fair education and evidence based information. You promote the dumbing down of any broad opinion and evidenced information with your cheap headlines and nonsense content articles. The Clayton's ‘ I love Victoria ‘ opinions space is just deliberately dumb hate speech opportunities. It’s cheap and an ignorant deliberate poor focus. Is it anarchy you want? Do you want to trump Trump at being irresponsible mob inciters.

The Federal Government as the owner of the business has a responsibility to do better. It's in the interest of hard working cleaners but it's also in the national interest that the folks who are working at sensitive sites are being looked after and respected. Let the Defence Minister it's not good enough - sign the petition today.

These costs are an additional and wholly unnecessary financial strain on workers who have already been struggling under precarious employment conditions in the midst of a global pandemic. Many staff have made big-ticket purchases of hundreds and even thousands of dollars in order to keep their jobs. Others, with no promise of being reimbursed, have gone without, resulting in many of us working under conditions that cause pain and discomfort and pose risks to our OHS. This has gone on for far too long and it must end now. The COVID-19 pandemic is not an excuse for companies to shift the costs and burdens of employment further onto the individual employee who cannot afford to bear them. Workers have struggled through the past year while the multi-million dollar company we work for has survived and thrived and workload has been higher than ever. This situation is wholly unethical and represents the erosion of our rights as workers and our financial security. Rest assured that call centres around the country are watching what happens now at SRC, and if we sit back and allow them to close our office, make us bear all the costs of our own employment, and not support us or pay us anything, then other workplaces will surely follow suit. It's time to set a strong precedent that we will not be taken advantage of.

Despite wage theft being criminalised in September 2020 in Queensland, young people continue to be underpaid and exploited at work. Many young people are unaware of the change to the legislation and also what this means for them when it comes to getting their money back! That's why we think the government and employers need to do more to help young people understand the changes to wage theft legislation and how they can address it.

MAJOR CUTS PLANNED: Macquarie University's Vice Chancellor and Executive are drawing up plans to restructure the University. The result will be major cuts to course offerings, cuts to casual staff and a large number of redundancies. We are deeply concerned that such major job losses in the middle of a global recession will not only cause significant hardship, but also compromise Macquarie University's ability to provide quality education for students and world-class research for the Australian community. WORST STUDENT-STAFF RATIOS ALREADY: Macquarie University is already one of the most poorly staffed universities in the world: Macquarie's staff to student ratio is the worst in Australia, and ninth worst (of 1,400) in the entire world [1]. WE ARE WORTH PROTECTING: Despite these workloads, Macquarie is remarkable: in recent weeks we just broke through the top 200 on Times Higher Education rankings [2]. WHY NOT SHOW US THE EVIDENCE? While the university declares a financial emergency, they have also refused independent scrutiny of the university's financial position. DON'T RUSH WHEN SO MUCH COULD CHANGE: Moving into 2021, so much could change. Now is not the time to make major, hasty cuts. Slow down! Open the books! Don't put our great institution at risk! [1] The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2020/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/stats_student_staff_ratio/sort_order/desc/cols/stats [2] Macquarie gains highest ever world ranking, 23 Sept 2020. https://www.mq.edu.au/newsroom/2020/09/03/macquarie-gains-highest-ever-world-ranking/