The people who work in South Australia's power industry deserve to be treated equally for equal work. But currently South Australian Power Networks (SAPN) management are trying to break the business in two, using the excuse that they need agreements that comply with the building code. These would force the people who work there onto agreements that: - ban mandatory hiring of apprentices - allow cut-price unskilled labour from labour hire companies - undermine safety and reliability for customers - attack the job security of experienced, reliable South Australians The CEPU/ETU recently successfully campaigned for changes to the building code that would exempt SAPN entirely from it because they perform essential services. Yet SAPN managers have refused to take up the exemption. They want to use the code as an excuse to put the screws on working South Australians. We support quality South Australian work, and the people who perform it. Add your voice below, and tell SAPN to stop playing games and apply for the building code exemptions.

The minister and the government should be standing up for Australian seafarers and denying any temporary licences while there are Australian workers available. Its time to stand up for Australian workers and the shipping industry.

A job you can count on is important to everyone in our community. Every worker should be treated with respect and be able to speak up for union rights and a fair deal. Henare, one of our delegates at Lite n' Easy, has been stood down from work and asked to leave immediately with no written reasons. This happened only 2 days after standing up for a fair pay rise. Members are hard-working, but would struggle to afford the products that the company make without a fair pay rise. As a company focused on family, and healthy living, Lite n' Easy management have put undue stress on Henare and his family. Members' rights to stand up for a fair deal should be respected, and it is unacceptable that workers are intimidated for working collectively. We work so we can plan a life for ourselves and our families, and make contributions to our communities. We all need a job we can count on to do this. Having worked at Lite n' Easy for 5 years, Henare's a valuable member of the team and active NUW Delegate. To restore faith in the pay negotiation process, it's important that Henare is immediately reinstated and that further targeting and attacks on staff for speaking up stop!

Your radiographers, sonographers, medical physicists and radiologists are the imaging professionals who provide the services that allow for quick and accurate diagnosis that leads to timely and effective treatment. They tell us that privatising medical imaging services in the new RAH will put profits before patients, lead to patients having to make expensive trips to other services, put staff and patients safety at risk, deskill our health professionals and lower the quality of services provided to the community. South Australians have paid over $2 billion for a new state of the art hospital and they should have free access to medical imaging no matter how frail they are and how complex their conditions. It is time for Minister Jack Snelling to stand up for South Australians and protect public imaging.

These savage job cuts by Aurizon will damage our families, our local businesses, our clubs, our schools, and almost every part of the Gladstone community. Exploiting your workers' rights to fair pay and secure employment just to boost your profits is indefensible. Stand by Gladstone Aurizon - don't cut our jobs!

UPDATE: Norm is now taking on Wilson Security in the Federal Court in Canberra. Show Norm you've got his back on March 8 at 10:00am - more details: http://bit.ly/2Ce2LcK "Together with my union, United Voice, I've tried, over and over again, to get Wilson security to stop stealing from their employees. It is systemic wage theft, from people who really can't afford to lose any money. I'm losing more than three thousand dollars a year - and there are hundreds of people just like me. "Most security guards are on really low wages. The whole industry tends to work on rotating rosters - four days on, four days off. A lot of security companies try to save money by scheduling overtime shifts on Sundays. But Wilson Security has gone a step further - they're picking and choosing when 'overtime' shifts occur - so they can avoid paying overtime. 500 security guards are being ripped off in the ACT alone.

Earlier this year the Surf Coast Shire was one of 4 progressive councils across Australia that passed a motion to fly the rainbow flag from 17 May 2017 (IDAHOT Day) until formal acceptance of marriage equality by the Federal Government. Disgracefully, on the 23rd of May, certain members of the Surf Coast Council decided to overturn this historic vote. They want to tear down the flag. The rainbow flag is an international symbol of LGBTIQ respect and pride. It so important that the rainbow flag continues to fly in the Surf Coast because there are many people in our community who identify as LGBTIQ. Being queer means you are twice as likely to experience poor mental health outcomes as a direct result of the stigma, prejudice and discrimination you experience every day. Our community must stand in solidarity on this issue and don't let the council tear down the flag.

Council-run home care enables those in need to live independently at home for as long possible by providing domestic assistance; personal care; respite care; property maintenance; nursing and allied health and social support. The workforce is stable, well trained and committed to providing quality services. Federal policy changes due to come into effect in 2020 threaten the Victorian home care system. Without local government our home care would be poorer - poorer in quality standards, poorer for lack of skilled and experienced workforce and poorer for the loss of $200 million in funding. It is not too late to make policy changes that will protect our system. FEEDBACK ON THE CURRENT SYSTEM: “I’m not as fit as I used to be and now the council provide a carer to help me out but it is the company we old folk get from the staff that attend. You need just see a friendly face and cheery hello, it makes such a difference, we have no one to talk to most days. So the council staff really work miracles. ” “It has been very difficult for my sister to look after my dad who has dementia in the South Australian HACC system which is decentralized. If anything there has been more cut backs and limited support – unless you have the money to pay. Victoria’s council run services are so much better. People who have home carers are able to stay in their own homes and receive better quality care and the carers have better support networks. Councils are vital in funding and staffing.” “I really think it is so important the Council continue to play a role in home care for our community. I’m concerned that this new model will look like the RESI Youth Care System which failed. Council’s have highly skilled staff to run Home and Community Care.” “The chap Arthur who takes us shopping on Thursday is a very good man, he lifts all the shopping on and off the bus and the young lady Emily is the name, she takes us to a market even sometimes with Arthur. There we stroll around with our friends from the bus and have a cup of tea. Yes these people you have on your staff are really something and this we thank Council for. The bus comes to your door and you see the cheery faces of the helpers, it makes your day.” #PlayFairwithHomeCare

The Rail Workshops in Rockhampton have provided life-long careers for generations, stimulating the regional economy and building a proud legacy in the community. When these jobs are taken out of the community and out sourced to contractors to save Aurizon a few dollars, entire families will be forced to relocate. In their OWN Community Engagement Charter, Aurizon state their “Commitment to the principal of ZEROHarm in the communities Aurizon operates within.” They also talk about how they strive to "Foster supportive long-term positive relationships with the communities in which we operate" and that they "respectfully consider community feedback". Aurizon have failed to meet their own standards & policy in how they have gone about closing these workshops. Stick by your word, don’t desert our community and take vital jobs with you - Keep the Rockhampton Railway Workshops open like you promised!

I'm Judith, and I've been a cleaner for a long time. I've never seen anything like this. In the government's new contract, there’s no jobs guarantee – meaning 7,000 cleaners will all be forced to reapply for our jobs, without entitlements like sick leave that we’ve built up over years of service. And there’s no hours guarantee – which we can’t afford, and also means we won’t be able to keep state schools and public buildings clean. We’ve only got until the end of the year to change this, so please add your name to tell the Premier that cleaners need job security - the more of us who speak out together, the louder our voices are!

Independant Member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, likes to pretend she's a friend of workers. She likes to pretend she stands up for decent wages and conditions, and that she's different from the Liberals. In the coming weeks, she has a chance to put her money where her mouth is. There are members of the Coalition likely to cross the floor and Cathy will be a deciding vote. She can choose to protect penalty rates or she can choose to slash the wages of 700,000 Australians. Cuts to penalty rates can be stopped if people like Cathy McGowan do the right thing.

Dear Honourable Trade Ministers, We are petitioning you in response to the recent announcement that Pacific Island governments will be a signing, with Australia and New Zealand, the PACER-Plus trade agreement. PACER-Plus has long been promoted as a development and economic cooperation agreement however the leaked texts have shown an agreement that will see the majority of the benefits flow to Australia and New Zealand. Papua New Guinea, in its decision to leave the negotiations described PACER-Plus as a 'net loss'. Fiji is not expected to sign due to their belief, amongst other reasons, that the 'protections' within PACER-Plus are inadequate to protect their infant industries. While Vanuatu’s Council of Ministers will seek to have the final decision of whether to sign or not sign PACER-Plus based on independent assessment. An independent assessment needs to be not just on the legal text but more importantly on the market access offers. Civil Society Organisations from across the region and Australia and New Zealand have long held concerns about the impacts of PACER-Plus and those concerns were justified given the assessment in Defending Pacific Ways of Life: A Social Impact Assessment of PACER-Plus, as well as the decision of PNG government, Fiji and the process outlined by the Vanuatu Government. The specific concerns with PACER-Plus we have are, but not limited to: · Threatening Livelihoods and local industries - Increased imports from Australia and New Zealand, coupled with useless protections and safeguards for Pacific manufactures and producers will undermine the ability of Pacific governments to set a development future based on Pacific industries. Some have forecast the loss of 75% of Pacific manufacturing jobs under PACER-Plus; · Negative Health impacts - Non-Communicable diseases are a major problem in the region and commitments under PACER-Plus will see those exacerbated due to an increase in cheap, unhealthy foods as well as threats to healthy, culturally appropriate food production. This is coupled with the potential brain drain of health professionals out of the Pacific as well as potential undermining of health services; · Gendered impacts - The majority of Pacific women are engaged with the infant industries and the informal sector with PACER-Plus exacerbating that vulnerable position. As such Women will experience the negative impacts of PACER-Plus the most, from loss of formal employment, gender-based barriers to trade, and additional care burdens amongst others; · The Loss of the right of governments to regulate - The ability to regulate allows governments to shape the economy in the interests of development, environmental/cultural protection and human rights. The current text and the attempts to protect this right are inadequate and at worst meaningless due to their requirement to not breach a country's commitment, rendering any right to regulate below the commitments in PACER-Plus; · The Failure of the OCTA - The Office of the Chief Trade Advisor, the office established to support FIC negotiators, has repeatedly failed to adequately defend FIC positions, often publicly defending the weak offers from Australia and New Zealand. The OCTA's hastily commissioned Social Impact Assessment was a last minute attempt to quieten the voices of civil society but it lacked independence and proper methodology; · Lack of development outcomes - PACER-Plus is underpinned by the belief that trade agreement will facilitate greater investment in the Pacific Island Countries, yet the evidence on this is mixed at best. The push to have the Pacific under take a legally binding restructure of their economies will benefit Australia and New Zealand investors not Pacific Island peoples. The recently released “A Peoples' Guide to PACER-Plus” offers an opportunity to begin a more transparent and accountable conversation about what PACER-Plus means for the Pacific and we call on governments to undertake such a process. You can also read more from the peoples guide to PACER-Plus: http://www.pang.org.fj/media/PANG%20Trade%20Documents/For%20Upload/17