Ambulance Victoria has received numerous complaints by paramedics about bullying and sexual harassment. They have asked the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) to undertake a review into Sexual Harassment and Discrimination. The review could take years! In the meantime, when paramedics and AV staff raise current issues about bullying, they are told that they can raise them in an internal process or send them to VEOHRC. VEOHRC's coverage of bullying is not clear cut. They cannot conciliate a bullying complaint unless it relates to discrimination or sexual harassment. This will leave many complaints out in the cold, with no-one available to review them. Additionally, less than 10% of surveyed staff at Ambulance Victoria believe that the current internal investigation process is effective and fair. This can’t wait - Ambulance Victoria must act now!

Delivery riders work night and day for an average of just $10.42 an hour*. They often have to work 50 - 60 hours a week to cobble together a basic income. They have no right to insurance when they get injured or die on the road, and it is at the discretion of huge multinational companies like UberEats and Doordash as to whether their families get supported. A survey conducted by the Transport Workers Union in September found that 73% of food delivery riders are worried about being ‘seriously hurt or killed’ at work. And their fears are clearly not unfounded. The Federal government must step up and take responsibility for workers being killed on the job by pulling these cowboy companies into line.

Public transport workers in Australia deal with millions of Australians getting them to work, school and play. This puts them at a heightened risk of contracting and spreading Covid-19. For many Governments, public transport workers are an afterthought. However, with this crisis, we need Governments of all levels to prioritise providing free and easy access to the new Covid-19 vaccine before big business and greedy CEOs get their hands on it. Public transport workers keep Australia moving and we can't let them be left at the back of the queue. #DontForgetPTWorkers #Covid19 #FrontlineHeros

Educators are essential workers, and yet are some of the lowest paid in the country. Educators in SA cannot afford to lose pay for even a week. That's why SA educators are demanding their pay and jobs are guaranteed during the SA lockdown! Early education was the only sector specifically kicked off JobKeeper, and with no ongoing federal support, educators are left uncertain if they will be paid during the lockdown announced yesterday in South Australia. Thousands of educators are facing terrible uncertainty, with no indication how their jobs will be affected if restrictions continue. During its second wave lockdown, Victorian early childhood services were supported by a Federal Government relief and recovery package, with educators’ jobs and wages protected through an employment guarantee. SA educators call on Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan to immediately confirm federal assistance will be extended to all early childhood services and educators affected by the South Australian lockdown. SA educators need support NOW! Mira Ghamrawi SA Early Childhood Educator

A move like this is unacceptable at any time, but especially when students are still dealing with the impacts of COVID-19, are stressed out about our final assessments, are are dealing with employment, housing, and financial security at an all time high. We can't sit by while Curtin continues to hold us upside down by the ankles and shake all the spare change from our pockets like a school yard bully.

So far this year Swinburne Council have; 1. embarked on a mass voluntary redundancy round that was not needed while taking on millions of dollars in debt to fund the redundancies – debt the union says the university will be continuing to pay off well after the Covid-19 crisis has passed. 2. Started another University wide sacking, sorry as Pascale says 'optimisation opportunity', while trying to tell NTEU they don't have to consult with anyone about that (yes we have put Swinburne in formal dispute) 3. Make big cuts to STEM while publicly announcing they want to be STEM focused. This includes cutting the only public health program in Victoria that teaches research and responses to pandemics. We urge all NTEU members and university staff to sign this petition in solidarity with Swinburne colleagues and to #defendhighered

About 2 years ago, workers at the Coles Smeaton Grange warehouse were told that their workplace would be shut down by 2023 to make room for automation. The news was devastating to workers & their families who are now unsure about what the future holds. This year, United Workers Union members have been negotiating a new collective agreement with Coles. Members are fighting for: - A fair redundancy package that will compensate them for many years of hard work & recognise the difficulty in finding new work due to the pandemic; - The right to transfer to the new automated Coles warehouse without loss of wages; - Job security for long term casual workers who will otherwise walk away with nothing. During the pandemic, Coles supermarket sales have soared by 6.9% & earnings have increased by 10.7%. On top of this, the Coles CEO Steven Cain’s remuneration package increased by 28.9% to more than $7 Million dollars in 2020! Now it's time for cashed up Coles to share their profits with the workers that created them!

Australians have done an incredible job of managing the COVID19 pandemic so far, but now we need to get on with life while still protecting our most vulnerable. As we re-open our borders and our economy, we’ll probably have small localised outbreaks of COVID-19. When that happens, many of us will be able to continue protecting ourselves by working from home. But some people just don’t have that option because of the type of work they do. Even worse, some of these people also have pre-existing health conditions or other risk factors that make them vulnerable to the worst effects of the virus. So how do we protect people with pre-existing conditions who can’t work from home, when the virus springs up again? The answer is simple. The Federal Government should provide them with a COVID-Vulnerable Worker Payment. It would work like an extension of paid pandemic leave - so workers can stay safe, without having to use up their existing workplace entitlements. Let’s look after COVID-Vulnerable workers, and get Australia moving again.

We all want a professional and highly skilled industry, and to achieve this we really need to fix the current funding model. Completion rates for hair styling apprenticeships are the lowest in any industry - just 30% of apprentices will complete their Cert 3. The current funding model provides significant subsidies for employers who take on apprentices - but only in the first 12 months of an apprenticeship. At a time when 140,000 apprentices have lost their jobs across Australia, the Government really should be supporting those apprentices who are still working, or who have just lost their position. The current subsidy provides no funding or support for them, and actually rewards employers who push them out, only to take on 'fresh blood'. Who are we? Hair Stylists Australia is Australia's only dedicated union servicing the hair and beauty industry. We represent hair stylists, barbers, apprentices, make-up artists, beauty therapists, and beauticians across the country. We're a small but dedicated team working to make the hair and beauty industry fair for everyone, by protecting penalty rates, campaigning for fair and equal wages + entitlements, and advocating for higher standards of training for apprentices, more respect at work, and safer workplaces

For months Pete Evans has been sharing Covid-19 conspiracy theories and pro-Donald Trump content. It's well known that Evans has been drifting further to the extreme right, and this drift was epitomised on Sunday when he shared an image implying it was normal and natural for Trump supporters to evolve into Neo-Nazis. Given Pete Evans is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, it has to be asked, why would he believe it is natural for Trump supporters to become Neo-Nazis? The image contained a butterfly bearing the Black Sun insignia, a Nazi image that was popularised in post-Nazi Germany. It was worn by the Christchurch shooter when he open-fired on a Mosque, killing 51 people. In the lead up to Christmas, there will be a rush of people buying gifts for friends and family. We've all grabbed a cookbook from Kmart as a last minute gift for a hard to buy for family member. The community would expect that this simple act of rushed gift buying wouldn't result in them funding a Neo-Nazi conspiracy theorist.

La Trobe Uni has a moral obligation to provide good-paying jobs and a quality education to all regions. The proposed cuts will have a disproportionate impact on regional Victoria. Regional students will be missing out on an important on-campus experience compared to their metro counterparts. It is vital for a functional society that the University ensures a diverse range of education and humanities subjects are offered.

As an apprentice, I spend one day a week at TAFE and the other four days learning on the job. I can't imagine what an apprenticeship would be like without on the job training. Stripping away on the job training would be disastrous for our skilled tradespeople. We are calling on the Government to commit to keeping on the job training for all apprenticeships.