Underpaying workers is wage theft pure and simple and it’s happening to hundreds of thousands of Australian workers every single day. Lawlessness is rampant in industries like fashion modelling, fast food, retail, hospitality, transport and aged care - where workers are being exploited and robbed of wages on a mass scale. These traditional industries are also facing cut-throat competition from the growing ‘gig economy’ which is driving down wages and smashing the concept of a permanent job into fragments. As a society we cannot sit back and watch as our world of work is atomised and our rights scattered to the wind. We want a royal commission now to expose wrongdoing and provide solutions on how to regulate and organise work in the future.

Honey Birdette and CEO Eloise Monaghan have repeatedly tried to ignore hundreds of claims by Honey Birdette workers of the bullying, harassment, abuse, and wage theft that goes in in their boutiques - but we won't be silenced. Eloise Monaghan and Honey Birdette need to know that if they don't take the abuse and harassment of workers in their boutiques seriously, we'll support lingerie companies that do! For more information, check out: https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/honey-birdette-workers-need-safe-workplaces

Everyday the CFMEU fights for the rights of workers. The union is committed to ensuring the safety of its members and ensuring that its members receive fair pay and conditions. The Union is committed to ensuring that all workers have equal access to rights and entitlements in accordance with the law. Craig and Cameron Zammit are committed dads and between them have 5 children, some at primary school. For the last eight years they have been picking up their children after school. Now, as a result of new management at Liverpool Hospital, they're being told that painters finishing at 2:30pm is incompatible with their job, despite working under these arrangements for eight years. This isn't fair. Family is everyone's responsibility and Craig and Cameron just want the opportunity to be there for their children.

I study at Murdoch University and the actions taken by Vice Chancellor Eeva Leinonen are shameful. The Vice Chancellor has seen fit to attack the work and pay conditions of the Murdoch University staff, this is especially raw as Murdoch senior officers are taking greater employee benefits and expecting staff to take pay cuts. This is a shameful act, and as a student of Murdoch University, I stand with the teaching and service staff. I stand with them because learning at an institution that has great employment conditions fosters a learning environment that benefits the students. As a student I also refuse to be part of an institution that so ruthlessly takes an axe to the workers terms and conditions. Not only is Murdoch's management trying to remove the conditions fought for by their staff, but they have also tried to put a gag order on the union to stop it communicating with its members. This is not a Vice chancellor that negotiates in good faith, this is someone who wants to employ snake tactics in order to gut what makes Murdoch a great university... Its staff! Murdoch claims it is the university of innovation, but there is nothing innovative about its underhanded tactics. Think Murdoch, Think Shame!

We are concerned about the voting process on our Enterprise Agreement for the following reasons: • Voting for the Enterprise Agreements will only be able to be completed online and that staff who do not have access to a computer will be denied a vote. • Staff need to input their employee number and Council will be able to track who voted “yes” and who voted “no”. • Many staff will be on leave when the voting takes place including School Crossing Supervisors and staff who work at two leisure centres that shut down for three weeks from 16 December. • Staff will be unable to scrutineer the vote as it will be counted electronically in Queensland. ASU delegates have always been present in previous years to scrutineer the vote count.

We all know people living in Country New South Wales struggle at the best of times, with the Liberal/National Party cutting funding for Hospitals, Schools, and Roads along with carrying out forced amalgamations of local Councils. THESE CUTS MEAN A LOSS OF REGIONAL JOBS. To add to the struggles in regional NSW, the Nationals and Liberal Parties are standing by doing nothing to SAVE REGIONAL JOBS, where the Government Owned electricity provider Essential Energy will set out to slash its workforce by some 1600 regional jobs by mid-2019. What can the National Party do: stand up to the Liberal party, and fight for regional NSW and save regional jobs and stop their own Government organisation from slashing regional jobs.

By 2020, approximately 40% of cars will be fitted with an electronic park brake. Practical Driving Assessors are being asked to conduct tests in cars fitted only with electronic park brakes. CPSU/CSA members are opposing the use of electronic park brakes because they are concerned about the safety of the communities they live and work in. Electronic park brakes are not as successful at stopping cars in an emergency situation. West Australians come to their driving assessment with a range of capabilities and in this stressful situation, safety should be paramount. A centrally mounted brake or dual control is the best method to ensure the safety of those being tested, those testing them and the communities in which they are being tested.

Many building and Construction workers spend long periods working away from home. This can badly affect the workers and their families. The CFMEU has made an application to vary the Building and Construction General On-site Award to improve the minimum standards to apply for workers engaged on distant jobs. The award sets the minimum standards that underpin EBA’s. The main changes we seek are: • R and R after 3 weeks work on the job, where the project is to run for more than 2 months; • Minimum of 7 days at home on R and R (exclusive of travel days); • Single room accommodation and same room for duration of the job (no motelling) • Employers not to put pressure on workers to give a false address (i.e. no pressure for gate starts) • Increase the minimum payment to $130 per day where no accommodation or meals are provided. Please support the changes.

The ASU and Victorian councils have shown real leadership on this issue recognising the importance of workplace based strategies to assist victims of family violence, 73 have a Family Violence clause in their agreement. However, there are many employees in this country not covered by agreements whose only hope of receiving any support from their employer is if Family Violence Leave is made available through the NES. I call on you to support victims of family violence to ensure that they can maintain their employment which is critical to putting the violence behind them and rebuilding their lives. A Family Violence Clause recognises that employees experiencing violence often need paid leave from their employment to keep themselves and their families safe. We know there are colleagues in our workforce that could need this leave to flee or take action to protect themselves. We are a better workforce and community when we support these people, usually women, without compromising their employment and economic security.

Since 1997 there have been more than 40 inquiries into child protection. The time for inquiries is over. In light of abuse, neglect, and cost-gouging of these private providers, state governments can no longer outsource their responsibility to provide safety for these children.

In Sydney and wondering “Where’s my bus”? It’s probably scheduled to be cancelled by the Liberals and the NSW Government’s Bus Franchising programme. Bus franchising will mean fewer bus stops, less buses, and longer journey times as inefficient routes and stops are cut and buses consolidated to save money. The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that bus companies are pushing for bus franchising so that they can extract savings out of bus operations. As Sydney grows, our government should be improving bus services for the community, so that we can get to work and get around Sydney faster, not reduce bus stops, reduce bus numbers and make journey times longer.

I work at a Grill'd store in Melbourne. It's company-owned, and they're STILL using traineeships to commit wage theft. They sign up young workers to complete hospitality certificates, but prevent them from completing their qualifications by refusing to schedule training sessions. This strategy is a scam. It rips us off, denying us fair pay and the training we're promised. Grill'd have shown time and time again they will do whatever it takes to make a profit from exploiting workers. This strategy means no qualification, no bonus, no career progression - it's a scam. It's not the first time Grill'd have been caught out ripping off young workers. A year ago they were exposed by workers for using WorkChoices era collective agreements to commit wage theft. Since then, Grill'd have been grilled (pun intended) by the media and instituted a new collective agreement. Problem solved, right? Wrong. Grill'd reckon they're "good for the community" - they should start acting like it.