If you were a member of MOVE bank on 1st March 2020 you should be feeling pretty concerned right now The directors of MOVE Bank have, on your behalf, rejected a merger proposal from Auswide Bank that would have put thousands of dollars into the pockets of every MOVE member , many of whom are Union members, families, and friends. Auswide Bank is an ASX-listed regional bank based in Bundaberg and has branches right across Queensland from Brisbane to Townsville. WE SAY: It is for MOVE’s members, not the directors, to decide the future of MOVE.

The TWU seeking fairness in the transport Industry. During this pandemic, if bus drivers are required to self-isolate and are not sick OR if bus drivers are affected by Covid-19 they should be entitled to the same special leave provisions extended to drivers employed by the NSW Government. All bus drivers whose employer is contracted to Transport for NSW should be treated the same and offered the same protections during this pandemic. TWU Buses – Delivering results for all bus drivers in NSW.

With your support the Union requests, again, that Council acknowledges those impacts upon members, withdraw their call for reduction of excess long service leave and meet with Union representatives to resolve this matter.

Glady Berejiklian and the NSW Liberal Party have not provided any relief to international students and temporary workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Most temporary workers have now lost their jobs and cannot return home. They are trapped here. Many other international workers work in essential services, supporting the whole community - but they have no support extended to them in a time of crisis. NSW is the only state to provide no support.

The COVID 19 crisis is not over, home care workers are on the frontline working in the community with vulnerable members of society. Union members have won special leave, they are starting to get the PPE they need and have access to COVID19 virus testing. However temperature testing is still missing! Contact less thermometers can make a huge difference to identifying symptoms sooner rather than later in workers and clients. To ensure adequate work health and safety standards for workers as well as continuing to stop the spread of this virus, home care workers need temperature testing thermometers now!

Everyone deserves the right to be safe at work. Every worker deserves the right to get home safely to their family at the end of the day. According to Safe Work Australia, 63 workers have died at work in 2020. From 2014 to 2018, there was an average of 56 workplace deaths in New South Wales per year. Clocking on at work should never be a death sentence. Most workplace deaths are easily preventable making these deaths even more tragic. Current laws in NSW allow employers to only get fined for the deaths of workers, even when they have been found to be negligent. By introducing industrial manslaughter as a criminal offence in NSW punishable by imprisonment, employers will be forced to take work health and safety seriously and avoid any more easily preventable workplace deaths. Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland have already introduced industrial manslaughter laws and these laws have helped to ensure that workers are better protected whilst at work. It’s time for New South Wales to do the same. NSW Young Labor wants all workers in New South Wales to be safe and protected at work. No one should go to work and not come home. (Banner image via Depositphotos)

Members have been contacting us with their stories: "I have only recently started at Monash and do not have the leave balance or personal wealth to cover this requirement. I have no choice but to let my kid’s education suffer as I cannot assist them and fulfil the full requirements of my role." "I have two children in lower to middle secondary school. Their schooling has shifted online, which requires me to monitor their schooling from 8.30am to 3.15pm each week day, and react to technical and learning issues throughout the day. In a non-COVID19 environment, I acquit my fractional hours by working uninterrupted during school hours from Monday to Friday (8.30am to 3.30pm). I am no longer able to get the uninterrupted school hours, so I am working much later into the evenings and on weekends, and this is impacting on my ability to look after my children outside of school hours and to assist my mother with the care of my father, who has Alzheimers." "I am the parent of a 5 and 6 year old. The 6 year old is in the process of being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and needs close and constant supervision. It is not possible to do any work at the same time as home-schooling. I am seeking carers leave to cover two days a week and my partner would be undertaking the other three days. I will spend the three work days fulfilling my teaching and engagement obligations, and will forego my research during this time. Clearly this is likely to impact on my track record for ARC grant applications and my next promotion application, but I feel I have no other choice due to pressures from my department." "I have a secondary school-age child. She has some significant health problems including anxiety, I have to spend a considerable amount of time keeping her on track with her learning. I also have an elderly mother (78) who lives on her own. I therefore need to regularly do her shopping, something she would normally do for herself, but should not at the moment because of the health risks of her leaving the house. Now when there is the prospect of me actually being able to take COVID-19 related leave, it has suddenly been withdrawn. This feels like a slap in the face, especially given the generosity of the university toward students. By contrast, for academics the so-called generosity has been swiftly removed, making a farce of the entire "thanks for being so incredible working overtime" statements that have been made routinely during the crisis. Personally, I worked more than 12 hours a day for 3 weeks, with no days off, and received nothing in recognition, except hollow words."

Virgin Airlines have gone into voluntary administration which means time is running out to save the 16,000 local jobs, spread across Australia, including in regional airports. The Morrison government is at a crossroad where it can choose to invest tax payer money in buying a stake in an Airline that will allow Australia to avoid becoming a country with one all powerful corporate airline in control of the skies or watch as 16,000 jobs are destroyed, tax payers are lumped with an $800 million bill for unpaid entitlements and our domestic tourism industry collapses as ticket prices exploded and services are cut. The foreign shareholders of Virgin Australia are all airlines. Despite the name Richard Branson’s company owns less than 10%. Around the world airlines have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and many other countries have already stepped in to save national airlines.

Pharmacy employees are on the frontline of this crisis working to keep the community healthy. This means we are more likely to encounter people who have COVID-19, we are more likely to catch COVID-19 and we are more likely to need to self-isolate on more than one occasion. Professional Pharmacists Australia has filed an application to the Fair Work Commission to have paid pandemic leave entitlements inserted into The Pharmacy Industry Award. These measures will apply to both casual and permanent staff: 1. Where a worker is required to self-isolate, or is prevented from working by government decree, they will receive two weeks paid leave per instance. 2. Where a worker is infected with COVID-19, they receive an immediate credit of 20 days personal leave to take time off. To achieve this, we need the support of the whole pharmacy community. Now is the time for us to unite, we are all in this together.

Special consideration measures, as implemented at other universities throughout Melbourne, help to ensure students feel supported during this unsettling time. All students deserve the right to have their interests looked after, and ensure they do not suffer academically as a result of the altered educational environment.

Private health operators are currently negotiating, or have already negotiated, viability guarantee agreements to assist the public sector and to ensure that workers in the private sector are gainfully employed. NSW Health workers have been guaranteed that they will not have to pay for parking in this time of crisis. The HSU Private Health Division is calling on all private health operators to ensure that free parking for all frontline health workers in this time of crisis. Workers in both private and public health are on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus and should both be afforded the same conditions. It is only fair that private health workers should not have to worry about the additional cost of parking as they work hard to save lives amidst this global pandemic. If you believe that private health workers whose employers have been financially bailed out by the State and Federal Government should not have to pay for parking, then please sign the below petition.

This should be recognised and compensated for since it is unjust treatment of international students who are paying a high price for something they are not receiving, and who in addition are not eligible for Job keeper payments or Centrelink (but are still expected to pay full tuition fees which is causing extreme financial distress). The University is offering Emergency Support grants for students who have lost their income. However these are not guaranteed and are addressing another issue. They are not a recognition of the change in quality of the teaching and learning experience; a change which should be reflected in the pricing of impacted semesters. For approximate pricing per year for international students see: https://study.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0033/84399/2020-tuition-fee-tables-for-international-students.pdf