The article in Fairfax was shocking. Kmart and Target should know better than to source their products from factories where workers are exploited. Many workers in these factories are paid less in a week than Australians earn an hour. These big companies make massive profits and need to know that Australians won't accept these dodgy practices. It's these sort of dodgy practices that meant over 1,000 workers died when a clothing factory called Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh. For more information check out the article in Fairfax: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/target-and-kmart-sell-2-school-uniforms-but-at-what-cost-20160112-gm4n1y.html

The Baird Government has been turning a blind eye to the massive rise of violence in our hospitals and its time we took a stand. Every day front line medical and emergency workers including nurses, orderlies, doctors, paramedics and other hospital staff are being harmed on the job and security officers have very few powers to stop it. Hospitals are places you go to get better but all too often we are seeing casualties coming from our casualty wards. This is not good enough. No one should have to go to work and be confronted by violence. We are calling on the Health Minister Jillian Skinner to review hospital security as a matter of urgency and give security officers the legal authority to protect the public, the patients and the staff at your local hospital.

My name is Diwakar. I clean offices in the city. I’m grateful for the work – but when my colleague was promised $15/hour, then sacked and never paid at all for the work, it broke me. This exploitation and bullying of us cleaners is rife. Some of it is downright awful: being underpaid like workers at 7-Eleven, or no pay at all for back-breaking hours, no annual leave. Sometimes companies hide records of us even working for them to protect themselves. But what makes it even worse – right now people fear being deported just for saying anything about the exploitation, bullying and abuse we're suffering. So we're forced into silence, and those breaking the law keep getting away with it. That's why I'm pleading with the new Ministerial Working Group to help protect vulnerable foreign workers to grant amnesty to workers who speak out about abuse and exploitation. Please help by signing my petition. It's terrifying to speak out, so I really need your help.

While Treasurer, Joe Hockey accused everyday people of being "leaners" and criticised expecting mums as being "double dippers" for accessing paid parental leave (he said it was "basically fraud"). Under his two budgets as Treasurer, Hockey cut billions from essential support services, education, hospitals and the ABC and SBS, amongst many other public services and supports. Now, having left Parliament mid-term, he will draw two salaries. It's time for (former) politicians like Joe Hockey to practice what they preach.

All workplace injuries and deaths are preventable. Everyone should come home safe and healthy from work at the end of the day. The eight deaths in November 2015 were: November 30: A 41-year-old man working at a poultry farm at Lethbridge, near Geelong, was struck by a forklift late at night. November 22: A 49-year-old farmer was found late in the evening underneath a quad bike on a property at South Purrumbete, east of Cobden. 19 November: A 42-year-old man fell to his death while removing a downpipe from a two-storey home at Hamlyn Heights in Geelong. 12 November: A 25-year-old refrigeration mechanic was electrocuted while doing maintenance work on an air conditioner at a factory in Braeside. 12 November: A 29-year-old worker was killed at a business in Keysborough when a piece of equipment fell off a forklift and crushed him. 10 November: a 76-year-old farmer was crushed by his tractor after it rolled over at Loch, in South Gippsland. 9 November: A 64-year-old contractor died in an explosion at a housing development site at Harkaway in Melbourne’s outer east. 4 November: A 76-year-old farm worker was electrocuted while maintenance was being undertaken on a pump at a farm at Anakie, near Geelong.

The deal that was done on ChAFTA is inadequate. This agreement is a threat to Australian jobs, safety and sovereignty. Without giving effect to these commitments, CHAFTA and any future agreement will seriously undermine Australia’s national interest.

My name is Ron and I am a hospital orderly at Royal Perth Hospital. Colin Barnett has recently made a decision to cut 1,500 jobs from our hospitals and my job is one of the ones that could go. A first class health system relies on having enough skilled professionals like myself and my colleagues to ensure all Western Australians receive the best possible healthcare. Cutting jobs in our hospitals puts patients at risk. Western Australians deserve better.

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.

Across the country, students are increasingly facing struggles which impact on their ability to participate in and succeed at university including: -financial difficulties -health problems and -familial responsibilities. These struggles are even more pronounced for disadvantaged students including women students, lgbtiqa students, aboriginal and torres strait islander students, ethno-culturally diverse students, students with disabilities and students from regional and rural areas. At most universities, student organisations help to address these issue through the provision of a range of student services including student counseling, financial support, and autonomous departments which provide an independent voice for students. However, while these services are essential, they are almost entirely reliant on the funding their receive through the Student Services Amenities Fee (SSAF); which is often not sufficient or ongoing This is largely due to the fact that loopholes in the SSAF legislation allow universities to bypass recognising the most pressing needs of students in their SSAF distribution. While the federal SSAF legislation dictates that Universities are required to consult with student organisations about the distribution of their SSAF revenue; many Universities do so in a way that is superficial, and does not ensure the adequate resourcing of essential student services. Further more the SSAF is at risk under the current Liberal government, which has had a longstanding opposition to its existence. 
In order to ensure that all students receive the support they need at university, it is essential that the SSAF is supported, and that student representatives are given more control over student affairs.

My name is Rafael and until Friday I worked into the night cleaning Myer Melbourne. In just 3 months I was underpaid by at least $7000. I spoke out. And a few weeks later I was sacked. When I started, a Myer subcontractor made me work on an ABN number on a flat rate of $20 an hour - that's below the award. We got no sick leave, no super, no weekend rates and we had no job security. It was only when I spoke to my union, United Voice, that I realised I was being underpaid by almost $20 an hour on some days. In three months I missed out on $5000 in wages and $2000 in super. That’s a huge amount of money for me! I asked if I could be employed directly and if I could be paid the Award. But they refused. I rely on my job to pay my rent and my bills, and buy my food. I don’t know what I’ll do now. I have no income. I may need to return to Colombia without completing my studies. I can’t believe I lost my job simply for asking to be paid the legal rate. What’s worse is the other cleaners who’ve been ripped off at Myer are now too scared to try and claim the back-pay they’re owed. I thought workers had rights in Australia. Myer should know better. Just six months ago another Myer subcontractor was exposed for ripping off cleaners. I want my job back. I want all Myer cleaners to have secure jobs with fair pay and for our right to be union members and speak out to be respected. Can you tell Myer to respect its cleaners and make sure I get my job back?

While most nurses are assumed to have a safe working environment, those nurses who undertake hazardous service should receive Commonwealth Honours exactly equal with those received by other State public servants offering similar service. Nurses in psychiatric intensive care units manage the same violent criminals that police and prison staff manage, but while the police and prison guards do receive medals, nurses do not. Virtually all Psychiatric Nurses manage patients deemed to be a "danger to others". Therefore they should have their hazardous service recognised. Nurses who voluntarily surrender their right to a safe working environment by serving as Violence Managers; by joining Epidemic Community Response Teams; or working in dangerous locations such as Casualty Wards should have their hazardous service recognised. Nurses whose work exposes them to the risk of violent assault should receive the National Medal, and those who voluntarily surrender their right to a safe working environment, for whatever reason, are offering service "above and beyond", and so should be eligible to receive the Public Service Medal. Please sign this petition to demand that State Health Ministers submit the necessary applications to Canberra, back-dated to 1987 in accordance with Commonwealth regulations, so that all nurses, whether working or retired, can receive the recognition that their service, and all too often their sacrifice, justly entitles them to receive. At the end of the day, this campaign is an equal work for equal pay, equal recognition for equal service demand.

This will force vulnerable low paid workers to come into work for a shift that could pay less than $10. For many it will cost more to get to and from work than they'll get paid. If they don't show they may not get any more shifts. It's completely unfair.