This Convention is ground-breaking for many reasons, including that it: • Protects against all forms of violence and harassment in the world of work, including during commuting to and from work, and through information and communications technologies; • Protects all individuals in the world of work, irrespective of their contractual status, including volunteers, trainees and apprentices, and casuals; • Recognises that family and domestic violence is a workplace issue and sets out specific measures that can be taken to protect workers; • Recognises that workers in some sectors, such as health, transport, education, retail and hospitality, or those working at night or in isolated areas, may be more exposed to violence and harassment and need special protections. Although violence and harassment in the workplace can be suffered by any worker, stereotyping and power inequalities make women much more vulnerable to it. The ACTU’s 2018 sexual harassment survey found nearly two thirds (64%) of women and more than one third (34%) of men who responded had experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment at some point in their working lives. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner supports ratification of the Convention in her report ‘Respect@Work’, which shows that our laws don’t keep workers safe. We urgently need improvements to our work health and safety law, anti-discrimination laws, and workplaces laws which make governments and employers step up and do their bit to prevent violence and harassment. Please tell the Attorney-General and Minister for Women to urgently commit to ratify C.190 to make workplaces healthy, safe and respectful for all of us.

The Morrison government's announcement that it will double fees for a series of humanities degrees is one of the worst attacks on students in recent times. Law, economics, management and commerce subjects will face fee hikes that means students could be charged up to $72,500 for a 5 year degree such as Law. The cost of a humanities or communication degree will be more than doubled - increasing by 113% to $14,500 a year. A three year arts degree will now cost approx. $45,000. This is essentially an attempt to abolish the humanities as a serious discipline, and instead restrict its accessibility to only wealthy students. This fee increase deliberately prioritises economically profitable degrees, while decreasing the accessibility of degrees designed to encourage critical thinking about society. Our education should not be subordinate to the needs of industry. The government wants to divide us by granting fee reductions to other students. We reject a two-tiered fee system that attempts to force students into studying what the government deems more important. Students should have the right to study what they want. Cost should never be a barrier when deciding what to study at university, or even if you want to study at all. We need free, fully funded public education, not a user pay model that prioritises particular disciplines or degrees. We are demanding that the government to scrap the proposed fee increases for university degrees. Written by Jazz Breen & Jack Mansell, Sydney University SRC Education Officers

The Government must extend income support to all workers. Not doing so risks the entire community’s health and shirks Australia's moral responsibility to look after the wellbeing of all who are here during an unprecedented pandemic. The lack of support for this group of people shows that the Government treats migrants and international students as cash cows. They hire them for cheap labour and ask them to pay huge education fees, but when things get difficult, they wash their hands clean of any responsibility. This pandemic does not discriminate based on visa status or employment status, and neither should we. Everyone deserves to be safe. That's is why we need Minister Ruston to ensure a wage subsidy for all workers so that all of us can follow public health advice and stay safe during this crisis. Sign the petition now.

The DOJ is putting the health and safety of COs and others in the prison at risk. Cleaning is at the front line of defense amid the Covid-19 crisis. But by keeping our prison cleaners contracted and casual, the Department is neglecting the management of this crucial job and putting lives at risk. Right now, coronavirus is threatening the health and livelihood of people all over the world, and here in Tasmania we are fighting it daily. We know that if coronavirus gets hold in TPS that isolation is not an option. An outbreak in the prison complex will decimate inmates and Officers, and must be prevented at all costs! TPS is trusting a mainland contract cleaning company to have the leadership and know-how to keep you safe! This company employs Shelley and Karen as Casuals. They have no isolation leave like you do ‒ they don’t even have any sick leave. They don’t have access to any of the systems and supports that you do, but they’re expected to keep RPC hygiene and disease free! Shelley and Karen play a vital role in ensuring the prison facilities are sanitised and virus-free. They keep employees and inmates safe. Yet they’re not afforded the respect they deserve such as job security, sick leave and a fair wage. They’re not given appropriate PPE or training in infection control. This puts us all at risk! Giving Shelley and Karen permanent roles can change this! There have been two vacant cleaning positions in the prison complex for over two years that the company has refused to fill. We need to tell TPS there has never been a more important time to employ cleaning staff and support them with the resources and training they need to keep us all safe. We demand that the DOJ directly employ Shelley & Karen immediately, give them access to special COVID-19 leave, and train them in infection control.

Our union’s primary concern is that schools cannot currently meet either their legislative Work, Health and Safety (WHS) obligations or their duty of care to both their employees and students while the school term continues.

I created the petition based on the myriad of scandals the Morrison government is embroiled in. The prime minister isn’t honestly dealing with allegations of corruption and rorting. He isn’t taking climate action seriously and the political/financial interference of the fossil fuel industry is likely behind that. He’s hell bent on rolling out of the Indue card despite evidence of how it disadvantages the most vulnerable people. And there’s an overall lack of accountability, transparency and integrity. Where is a Federal ICAC? The list goes on. I could also include the unwillingness to implement recommendations from Royal Commissions, the poor response to the bushfire crisis, and the rise of right wing extremism, and claiming a surplus from the NDIS underspend while splashing money around dodgy contracts with Indue, Paladin and others with links to the LNP. I truly believe that if enough ordinary people stand up we can let politicians know that democracy belongs to us and not to them. They should serve the public good and not just be in it for themselves, and the power that comes with their elected positions. When they make bad decisions, they need to take responsibility and be answerable to us. I’m sure there’s enough of us who want to give the prime minister the message: Scotty from marketing - we’re not buying what you’re selling.

I’ve seen too many colleagues leave because of the low pay and limited career progression. It’s not fair on the children who deserve high quality kindergarten education with experienced educators who can afford to build long term careers. Premier Andrews has committed to providing kindergarten to every Victorian three year old by 2022. To do this our kindergartens will need thousands of extra educators and keep the ones we’ve got. But the promise to every three-year-old will not be kept if we can’t attract new colleagues because of low pay. If you value the work of educators, we need you to please give us your support.

The Minister for Public Transport is out of touch and out of her depth. Her comments have angered the hardworking women and men who keep Melbourne's network running and her lack of action has led Victoria into a transport crisis. RTBU members do not support politicians who don’t support us, nor do we support politicians who are dismissive of workers and our rights. We are calling upon workers EVERYWHERE to unite in solidarity by signing this petition to call for a public apology from Minister Melissa Horne, along with her resignation as Public Transport Minister.

Ms Ardnt has continually promoted harmful views undermining the sexual assaults on campus, as well as actively defending sexual assault perpetrators. This includes actively interviewing and defending convicted pedophile Nicholas Bester, blaming the sexual assaults on a 15 year old girl. Her views are dangerous and she has actively worked against the safety of women and thus she shouldn’t be honoured or represent Australia.

Lactalis is one of the biggest dairy companies in the world. They are making mega profits. Yet we are barely surviving on their poverty wages. We can only just afford to pay our rent, soon we won’t be able to even afford to put petrol in the car to get to work. Women at our site have had to get second jobs as cleaners and gardeners just to get by. In the packing department, where a majority of women work, we aren’t even able the higher classification levels. We deserve to be paid equally to other workers. It’s only fair.

I'm one of dozens of current and former Mecca employees that have been on the receiving end of bullying, intimidation, discrimination and favouritism whilst working in their store. After just a few weeks of working at Mecca I began to dread going to work. I was bullied and ridiculed by managers over trivial issues, often on the shop floor in front of customers. After a month and a half I raised concerns with my line manager about the bullying I was experiencing, and shortly after I was fired from Mecca. Mecca Brands have been named the fourth best place to work in 2019 but the façade as the greatest place to work is not the case. Mecca workers, most of whom are young women in their 20s, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Mecca has a legal responsibility to provide a safe working environment and they are falling well short. The problem must be fixed from the top. Jo Horgan can fix this problem. She can weed out bullying and discriminatory behaviour and put an end to it. The community is now watching to see that workers have a safe and discrimination-free workplace. Mecca workers have broken their silence, read more here: https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/its-all-fake-beauty-giant-mecca-facing-bullying-claims-20191117-p539q4.html

One women is killed in Australia per week. This is worse for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. How can we even begin to get this number under control if we can't talk about the root issues? We needs shows like Q&A as a forum for experts to discuss the need for action, and the best solutions. Removing the episode shows a capitulation to men's rights activists and white nationalists who don't want women, non-binary people and people of colour to be safe or have any rights in Australia. The ABC must bring back this important episode of Q&A!