In an outrageous act of corporate greed, 55 CUB workers were terminated without notice and then offered a take-it-or-leave-it non-union deal with a 65 per cent reduction in monetary entitlements and cuts to most of their hard-won conditions. The Abbotsford CUB brewery makes huge profits producing leading brands like VB, Crown Lager, Melbourne Bitter, Carlton Dry, Pure Blond and Strongbow. It’s shameful that CUB workers are paying a price for being union and doing their job well, while SAB Miller (CUB's parent company) made $4.4 billion in profits this year and is currently part of the biggest ever corporate takeover in the history of the global beer industry. We need your support to call on CUB to reinstate the workers and end their shameful anti-worker, anti-union tactics.

NUW members in Bendigo recently won a protracted legal case to get entitlements they were owed paid to them following the collapse of Empire Rubber in 2006. However of the $4.5 million win, workers will never see a cent. Nothing. All because corporate law firms are swallowing the win up in fees. LCM Litigation Fund Pty Ltd and Piper Alderman have pocketed 91% of the win, $4.1 million dollars, while their clients have been told they will never see any money and there is nothing they can do. NUW member and former Empire Rubber worker Shane Hogan is owed $15,000. His wife Tracy has said that “To get a letter saying that it’s all been eaten up in fees is very disappointing.” “A lot of people who were laid off did not gain employment afterwards, so they were really relying on getting that money”. Members refuse to accept this gross denial of justice. We are calling on Piper Alderman to waive their fees and give their clients the money they have won. The Law Institute of Victoria’s code of ethics calls for lawyers to “advance their clients’ interests above their own” and to “charge fairly for their work”. Clearly Piper Alderman have failed in their ethical obligations to NUW members at Empire Rubber. In pocketing the cash and failing to meet ethical standards, Piper Alderman undermines the integrity of the justice system to serve the needs of workers. Piper Alderman and LCM Litigation Fund: give workers their money back so justice is closer to being served!

Workers on farms across Australia are currently forced to work long hours, often 14 or 16 hours and even up to 22 hours a day. Many are paid cash payments; as low as $4 and commonly $12 or $14 an hour, while the minimum wage is $21.61. These workers pick and pack the fresh fruit and vegetables that we buy at the supermarket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NjOjNAShnQ Many producers use dodgy labour hire contractors to try and cut costs. These labour hire contractors routinely steal workers wages, provide them with substandard accommodation for exorbitant fees, and seek sexual and monetary favours for visas or preferential treatment. Workers who speak up are ignored, silenced or have their employment terminated. All this is happening while the Big Supermarkets engage in 'price wars' during the ad breaks we watch on TV. As a duopoly, Coles and Woolworths have incredible buying power. Competition among producers to supply the supermarkets is immense. Coles and Woolworths exploit their market position to demand that producers supply products at lower and lower cost. Coles and Woolworths claim their Ethical Sourcing Code of Conduct ensures that fresh food products are ethically produced. The reality facing workers on these farms proves that this is not true. When producers are confronted with the choice between complying with codes or losing a supply contract with a Big Supermarket, they choose to cut corners. Even after extreme exploitation and slave-like conditions were exposed on Four Corners in May 2015, workers are still fighting for justice on many farms around Australia. Without workers being able to actively participate in their union and speak up about conditions on farms, codes of conduct will never work. Workers who produce our fresh food are putting out a call to clean up the supply chain, a call for a Fair Food Agreement to immediately outline standard conditions and rights that workers can collectively enact.

200 workers die in Australia every year in avoidable accidents. Each of these deaths destroys or disrupts the lives of dozens of people, sometimes for years. Each workers' absence sends waves of grief and loss through entire communities, and leaves holes that will never be filled. The same companies responsible for these workers deaths take short cuts on safety time and again, because there is no meaningful law to deter their dangerous behaviour.

I’ve been a loyal worker in Kmart’s Truganina Distribution Centre for over two and a half years. Even though I was engaged through a labour-hire company as a casual, the work was regular and reliable. I get on well with my co-workers and manager, and have never had any problems or disciplinary issues at work. I am in my 50s, with a family and the regular work at Kmart has meant a lot to me because it can be hard for older workers to find employment. I thought that after years of hard work and good service this was a steady job and I organised with Kmart to take my first holiday in years, even though I knew this was unpaid because I’m a casual. After my well-earned break, which was approved by my employer, I did not hear from Kmart about shifts. When I called them, I was shocked to be told there was no more work and that I would need to return my security pass. When I tried to find out why, I was told that there was no more work, even though since that time Kmart has engaged a number of new casual labour-hire employees in roles I could easily be performing. I want to go back to work at Kmart. 200 of my co-workers have already signed a petition on site to ask Kmart to bring me back to work, but the company has refused to listen to them. Because of my status as an agency casual, I am left in a legal limbo – despite my service I have no legal claim to reinstatement, even though I have been sacked for taking a holiday, which would be illegal if it happened to a permanent worker. This has left me feeling stressed, has been hard on my family and I just want to go back to work at Kmart.

I am an early childhood educator. Every day I help shape the future chances and choices of every child I educate. But today, on International Women’s Day, my colleagues and I did something quite different — and a little scary: we chained ourselves to Malcolm Turnbull's office. Why? I was born in 1968. One year later, a brave woman called Zelda D’Aprano shocked the nation by chaining herself to Melbourne’s Commonwealth Building to protest against women being paid substantially less than men. That was almost 50 years ago, yet my colleagues and I are paid one third less than those educating children just a few years older – for one reason: 94 per cent of us are female. I have been waiting my whole life to have my work valued the same as a man. Educators are fed up. We won’t die waiting for equal pay. We want Malcolm Turnbull to fix this. Please stand with us and tell him it’s time to value our work by funding wages that befits our essential and invaluable profession. https://youtu.be/yzVcR4nSWXY

Support a #justtransition for the Latrobe Valley The Latrobe Valley community has powered Victoria for almost 100 years, and deserves to be supported through the inevitable transition of our energy system. This means new employment opportunities as the inevitable closure of Hazelwood Power Station looms closer. Help avert a manufacturing crisis #supportmanufacturing At the same time, Victoria is facing a manufacturing jobs crisis, especially as the car industry closes over the next two years. Make sure no-one is left behind in the #energytransition It should not just be the rich who are able to benefit from energy efficiency and clean energy technology. #equality. Households who can benefit the most from lower energy bills should be supported to access these options. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions #climatechange The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transform our economy so that it is sustainable is growing more pressing every day. The State Government’s own operations make a significant contribution to carbon pollution, and the government can lead by example in reducing emissions from its own buildings. This would also have a long-term benefit for tenants of public housing, whose energy bills would be reduced, giving a tangible boost to their disposable income. Encourage the cooperative economy and more secure work #securework Earthworker is a community initiative established by unionists and environmental activists to help Victorians work their way out of the climate crisis. It is committed to providing decent, secure work in factories owned by workers to manufacture the renewable energy technologies that we so badly need to transform our future. More information can be found at: http://earthworkercooperative.com.au/ In the UK, the Labour Party is pushing for the right for workers to buy out enterprises, and States in the US are legislating to support worker co-ops. The worker cooperative model can be the basis of new jobs and a just transition in places like the Latrobe Valley and Geelong, where old energy-intensive industries are under threat. Earthworker already has all the required factory machinery in a factory site in Morwell, Latrobe Valley. The project has the intellectual property, experience and skills in manufacturing and installing solar hot water systems across Australia, and is in the process of setting up the Morwell factory. With a sizable order of solar hot water systems for public housing, this first cooperative factory could be up and running quickly, with this kick-start, building itself into a long-term and community-sustaining cooperative business – the first of many across Australia. The Victorian government’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring local content in Government Projects, and growing employment opportunities in renewable technologies can be achieved in partnerships with organisations like Earthworker

The Electrical Trades Union is serious about workplace safety. It is a matter of life and death. We know that licensing of high-risk trades, health and safety training and right of access for workers' representatives are crucial to a good safety culture. Extending these basic protections to workers in the offshore oil and gas industries could be the difference between a tragic loss and a happy future for thousands of Australian families.

Our health workers are the backbone of our hospital system but changes to staff parking at RPA is making it harder for employees to get to work every day to provide the excellent service we are all used to. NSW Health has caused chaos for staff by implementing changes to car parks that are already heavily used by hospital users, university students and those who use local businesses. It’s bad enough that NSW Health is slugging the public with exorbitant parking fees, but now they want to push staff out so they can raise even more revenue. Instead of trying to rip off the public with huge parking fees, Jillian Skinner should be finding ways to support long-suffering employees. We are calling on the Baird Government to instruct the Local Health District to reverse its unfair parking decision. It is clear that this is another mean decision from a government that puts dollars and budgets before patients and staff.

40 Victorian families have been let down by the Federal Government. The product carried by the MV Portland between Portland, Victoria and Kwinana, Western Australia is: - Mined in Australia - Refined in Australia - Transported exclusively in Australia This is AUSTRALIAN COASTAL TRADE pure and simple. If these jobs aren't safeguarded, what job in Australia is safe? We need to back in our people and our skills, and ensure companies that profit from Australian wealth also support Aussie communities and people.

The recent re-opening of the Grafton jail was a welcome announcement by the Baird Government following its sudden closure in 2012 that resulted in 100 local job losses. While the influx of new and previous workers will be a much needed boost to the local economy at a time of high unemployment, there remains serious concerns over plans for the new facility. When built it will be privately operated. Private prisons are bad for public safety, bad for the economy, and bad for the communities in which they are based. Myriad of American research has proven that private prisons are unsafe, have significantly lower staffing levels than publicly operated prisons and a higher rate of assaults on staff and inmates. The same logic that motivates companies to operate prisons more efficiently also encourages them to cut corners at the expense of workers, prisoners and the public. Every cent they do not spend on food, health care or training for guards is a cent they can pocket. It is not desirable or appropriate for parts of the justice system to be outsourced to private companies. Stop the Americanisation of our justice system by ensuring no more privatisation of our gaols.

Under a policy that had been in place for five years, all Federal government departments and agencies were required to start using 100% recycled paper this year. This policy was cancelled in the weeks before Tony Abbott was replaced as Prime Minister. Over the last few years, Australian Paper have invested in new recycling technology that allows 100% recycled paper to be made locally in Australia. This policy decision will cost thousands of jobs, will be bad for the industry, and will be harmful to the environment. We call on Malcolm Turnbull to reverse this decision and ensure all Government paper is 100% recycled.