Over the past decades universities have come to rely upon casual and fixed-term staff to perform essential teaching, research and service roles. At La Trobe University over 70% of staff are not on ongoing contracts. University workers on casual, sessional and fixed-term contracts are bearing the brunt of cuts universities are making in response to COVID19-related revenue deficits. On 16 April 2020 La Trobe University communicated to all staff that due to from 1 May 2020, casuals will only be retained if they are deemed “essential”. This has led to significant job losses and loss of hours for causal staff, with many more still waiting in limbo to be informed about the future of their positions. We condemn the sacking of casual staff. Casual redundancies are projected to potentially save LTU around $1 million, less than 1% of the projected revenue deficit of $120-150 million. Casual redundancies will therefore have only a marginal impact on addressing overall revenue deficit, but the loss of these positions will have a number of significant impacts including on: • the mental health & financial wellbeing of LTU casuals who have lost their jobs and who face the uncertainty of potentially losing their jobs. Many casuals will face considerable financial hardship, especially given the ineligibility of university workers to access JobKeeper. • the student experience and the quality of teaching and learning at La Trobe University, given that the loss of causal jobs necessarily will translate to larger class sizes, the cutting of subjects, especially electives and the reduction of student services; • the workload of remaining staff at La Trobe University who will invariably be asked to pick up additional work to compensate for cuts; We, the undersigned, condemn the sacking of casual staff at La Trobe University and call on La Trobe University to recognise all the work casuals do is essential and protect their hours and conditions during this difficult time. Those of us who have ongoing roles commit to not taking on work that would otherwise be allocated to casual or fixed term staff – recognising that doing so harms the quality of our teaching and/or research as well as enabling the University to take work from our most precarious colleagues.

A leaked department letter has revealed that the Morrison government is demanding (un)employment agencies be proactive about scheduling appointments with unemployed workers — despite mutual obligations being suspended until 1 June. This has given the green light for agencies to ramp up their bullying tactics to force unemployed workers into pointless appointments and claim government commissions of up to $377 per initial appointment. The government must stop handing over billions of dollars to private corporations to punish the unemployed. The AUWU demands that this punitive system — already deemed not fit for purpose by both employers and the senate — be immediately scrapped and replaced with a genuine employment service, run by public servants, that actually helps unemployed workers through this crisis More details: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/05/11/coronavirus-jobseeker-mutual-obligations-letter/ We know the privatised employment services system is grossly punitive. The data shows payments were suspended 2.7m times in 12 months, but only 654,000 official "demerit points" were handed out. This adds up to roughly 2 million unfair penalties being dished out to unemployed workers every year by privately owned agencies. A 75% error is a national disgrace. This unfair compliance regime has had a catastrophic impact on the lives of unemployed workers. It's a national disgrace that, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, this system continues to drive everyday Australians into poverty, homelessness, mental distress and even suicide.

On the 3rd of April, Maribyrnong Council secretly sent termination letters to 150 employees from libraries, community centres and the aquatic centre. They did this without talking to the staff, their supervisors or their union beforehand. Some staff were told they had been sacked by being asked to hand back their keys at the end of their shift. Maribyrnong Council is the only Council in Australia to sack workers. When asked for justification, they claimed that they believed it would allow the workers to access centrelink if they were sacked. Despite being informed that this is not correct, they have refused to rescind the terminations. Most of the staff who were terminated knew that they may lose hours, but the termination letter came as a cruel shock. It would cost nothing for Maribyrnong to rescind these wrongful terminations, and they should do so immediately for the well being of the community.

I'm Brendan, and I'm an injured worker. After 25 years as a specialist mental health nurse, I experienced a major workplace injury in August 2018. As a mental health nurse and someone who has been injured at work, I know first hand the affects it has and I'm asking for change to support other workers who get hurt at work. For the first time in over two decades, I found myself unable to work and having to deal with the loss of identity, income and meaning that is bound up in that. At the same time, I was having to navigate the bureaucracy of Work Cover. It just doesn’t work for workers. Its primary objective is to get you back to work or off their books as soon as possible. They don’t really care what anxieties or stresses may result. Injured workers face loss of income, loss of identity and isolation - and so do their families. Health and Wellbeing plans are a necessary step to manage the increasing mental health injuries suffered by workers in this country. It was a chance conversation that I had with my union in 2019 that led to the very first Injured Workers Day taking place this year, in 2020. I spoke to my union about the stress and invisibility I felt as a newly injured worker, and how I felt the union movement needed to do more to support people like me. They agreed, and we've worked together build this new movement. Injured Workers Day has existed in Ontario, Canada since 1983, lobbying for visibility for injured workers and changes to their workers compensation scheme. They too are hosting a day of online action on Injured Workers Day, and we’ll be a part of each other’s events. In some ways, the limitations placed on us all by the coronavirus has made it easier to build international solidarity around this important issue. Injured Workers Day will take place on Monday June 1st, LIVE on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/injuredworkersday/ The event will be all about connecting with, and empowering injured workers across Australia. The first year of this new movement will be about bringing injured workers out of the shadows and enabling them to develop and lead a public conversation about what’s broken in the system, and what needs to change. I also want June 1st to be seen as an important reminder, at this time of massive change in industrial relations in Australia, that the union movement is a collective that embraces all workers- people from all backgrounds, workers who’ve been injured, and workers laid off or impacted by the coronavirus. I recognise the impact of the coronavirus on workers across Australia, both due to loss of jobs, but also the injuries faced and loss of workers' lives resulting from this pandemic. Many Australians who experience mental health issues are experiencing increasing symptoms due to the social isolation measures currently in place; and mental health workers are under increased pressure due to the high acuity of illness and limited community supports available to people. The Coronavirus pandemic forced us to adapt Injured Workers Day to a day of online action. By this time next year, my hope is that we’ll have built an organised movement with a clear set of demands, and an agenda for political change. I hope next year we’ll be able to assemble in person- in protest and in solidarity, as we chart a way forward to fix a broken system.

In light of the current crisis the public health system is facing, workers volunteered to roll over their current enterprise agreement, keeping the status quo, so that everyone can focus on delivering services and keeping the community safe. Lucas and the Liberal Government have refused - in favour of attacking workers’ current conditions, including job security. We call on the Treasurer to support essential workers who have been working tirelessly during this crisis by agreeing to rollover the enterprise agreement with a wage increase. This action would provide essential public sector workers with the certainty they deserve and allow the Government to continue focussing on the health and wellbeing of South Australians during these unprecedented times. Sign the petition NOW.

The loss of these skills will be detrimental to the future of the Deakin as the COVID - 19 pandemic subsides. This is a once in a lifetime event and requires a once in a generation level courage and imagination to support those who make Deakin Worldly .

The TWU seeking fairness in the transport Industry. During this pandemic, if bus drivers are required to self-isolate and are not sick OR if bus drivers are affected by Covid-19 they should be entitled to the same special leave provisions extended to drivers employed by the NSW Government. All bus drivers whose employer is contracted to Transport for NSW should be treated the same and offered the same protections during this pandemic. TWU Buses – Delivering results for all bus drivers in NSW.

With your support the Union requests, again, that Council acknowledges those impacts upon members, withdraw their call for reduction of excess long service leave and meet with Union representatives to resolve this matter.

Glady Berejiklian and the NSW Liberal Party have not provided any relief to international students and temporary workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Most temporary workers have now lost their jobs and cannot return home. They are trapped here. Many other international workers work in essential services, supporting the whole community - but they have no support extended to them in a time of crisis. NSW is the only state to provide no support.

The COVID 19 crisis is not over, home care workers are on the frontline working in the community with vulnerable members of society. Union members have won special leave, they are starting to get the PPE they need and have access to COVID19 virus testing. However temperature testing is still missing! Contact less thermometers can make a huge difference to identifying symptoms sooner rather than later in workers and clients. To ensure adequate work health and safety standards for workers as well as continuing to stop the spread of this virus, home care workers need temperature testing thermometers now!

Everyone deserves the right to be safe at work. Every worker deserves the right to get home safely to their family at the end of the day. According to Safe Work Australia, 63 workers have died at work in 2020. From 2014 to 2018, there was an average of 56 workplace deaths in New South Wales per year. Clocking on at work should never be a death sentence. Most workplace deaths are easily preventable making these deaths even more tragic. Current laws in NSW allow employers to only get fined for the deaths of workers, even when they have been found to be negligent. By introducing industrial manslaughter as a criminal offence in NSW punishable by imprisonment, employers will be forced to take work health and safety seriously and avoid any more easily preventable workplace deaths. Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland have already introduced industrial manslaughter laws and these laws have helped to ensure that workers are better protected whilst at work. It’s time for New South Wales to do the same. NSW Young Labor wants all workers in New South Wales to be safe and protected at work. No one should go to work and not come home. (Banner image via Depositphotos)

Essential workers are putting their lives at risk for all of us. So why can’t we do the right thing by them? Essential workers in NSW are being asked to work with little or no safety equipment. They come into contact with people daily, putting themselves at greater risk of contracting COVID-19. They do this to keep our state healthy, safe, moving and functioning during the coronavirus. Yet, face masks are being rationed in hospitals. Hand sanitiser is in short supply in schools and childcares centres. Others miss out entirely on health or safety equipment. Essential workers care for our elderly, nurse our infirm, produce our food and stock our supermarkets. They ensure the lights are on and water is running. They fight the virus in hospitals, and keep our state clean, safe, moving and functioning during this exhausting pandemic. The Government must step up and guarantee personal protective equipment (PPE) for all essential workers. If they aren’t safe, none of us are! PPE includes medical masks, gloves, hand sanitiser, gowns, eyewear, face shields and other items. Different essential workers will have different needs. The Government must immediately talk with workers and their representatives to find what they need. They must fund, deliver or mandate employers provide the required PPE.