Most charities contract with private companies to raise funds over the phone or face to face in the streets. Oftentimes, these private companies engage workers as sham contractors as a way of avoiding the legal responsibilities they owe to their employees. This means fundraising workers can end up working full-time hours while taking home nothing or next to nothing in pay at the end of a week. This isn’t fair. The charities who engage these private fundraising companies have the power to fix this problem. They have the power to fix up their contracting chain and make sure their fundraising workers are paid legally.

Workers have been beaten and attacked by police during peaceful demonstrations, leaving one man dead. Over 20 union activists have been jailed, with raids on transport unions and the teachers' union deregistered. Yet workers and their unions remain steadfast in their fight for justice and are currently holding strikes.

Health care is a universal right and should be about patient care. A private operator will have to generate profit. That can only be achieved by underpaying or reducing staff and scrimping on services. Ultimately it’s the patients that suffer. If it's the choice between treating a private patient or one on Medicare we all know who misses out. We want to ensure our hospitals remain in public hands for the benefit of everyone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFTflWk8h5Q

Southport Sharks club prides itself on being a leader within the Queensland Clubs Industry, the same industry that is calling for the slashing of penalty rates. Clubs Australia, the UNION for club employers, made a public submission to the Fair Work Commission calling for weekend and public holiday penalty rates to be slashed by up to half of the current rates. This could see employees’ lose up to $110 a week from their pay packets - a cut they can’t afford and don’t deserve. Southport Sharks wants you to believe it’s a community club that cares about locals – sadly for the locals they hire that’s not the case. Southport Sharks claims to be one of the largest and most successful Queensland clubs with over 50,000 members. Such a successful club can surely afford to stand up for its staff when their rights are under attack?!

Whether you're a Bulldogs member, supporter or bandwagon rider, you know that Robert "Bob" Murphy is the heart and soul of our club. The impact he has had on the players and club is immeasurable. Our injured captain has played 295 games since debuting for the club in 2000. Let him clock it up to 296 games as he joins his beloved Doggies on the bench. Back in April, Murphy said his heart would ache if the Doggies made the final and he couldn't play. Have a heart and grant him a spot on the bench.

Marriage equality in Australia is overdue. We need our politicians to do their job and hold a free vote on marriage equality, instead of wasting $200,000,000 on a plebiscite. Any result wouldn't be binding on the Liberal Party, so what's the point? It would take 5 minutes for Parliament to change the Marriage Act and get on with addressing far more complex challenges the country faces. We want this plebiscite defeated, and Malcolm Turnbull to find a spine and grant his MPs a conscience vote.

We can win marriage equality. Two thirds of Aussies, the majority of parliamentarians and the leaders of all major parties support it -- the only blocker is political will. This week Bill Shorten said: "Let's get on with this, have a vote next week when the Parliament sits.” He’s not alone. Greens leader Richard Di Natale has said: "The easiest, simplest, quickest, most effective, least costly and least harmful way of ensuring equality in marriage is through a vote in the parliament, and we can do that next week should the Prime Minister decide to show some leadership." And Senate power broker Nick Xenophon has said: "I would like to see this happen in this Parliament." Now it’s up to us. Let’s call on our leaders to hold a free vote for marriage equality when parliament sits again. Join this urgent call for our pollies to do their jobs and stop the delay! Sign the petition and share this with your friends:

Trucking laws in NSW, known as 'Chapter 6', have been in operation since 1984 to ensure owner drivers and contractors are supported by minimum conditions that provide for cost recovery and basic safety standards. Not only must these conditions be preserved, but they should be extended to support 30-day payments so these small trucking businesses can maintain cash flow, and help hold powerful industry clients to account for rates and conditions in the transport industry.

Union members work hard every day to end discrimination in Australian workplaces but we cannot win that fight until we end discrimination in all Australian laws. That includes the law that currently bans same-sex couples from getting married. This civil law was changed in 2004 to deny loving and committed same-sex couples marriage equality. And just as politicians did in 2004, the Turnbull Government should now put this to a free vote in Parliament without resorting to a costly, divisive plebiscite the outcome of which they have already said they will not be bound by. They should also not change our anti-discrimination laws to allow people and companies to refuse to do business with same-sex couples, as is proposed.

Eduardo Belo is the owner of Gardarmor Security. He is also the biggest private sector employer in East Timor. Despite a recent article in the Nikkei Asian Review promoting his rise to ‘top business man in East Timor’, Belo has recently overseen the dismissal of over 100 Timorese security workers at Gardamor Security. Workers are angry that East Timor’s top businessman - who runs one of the most profitable private companies – has sacked these workers without paying them their entitlements. The General Workers Union of Timor Leste (SJT-TL) has turned to the Australian union movement for solidarity. We need your help: tell Eduardo Belo to honour his commitments to his security workers under Timorese labour law. We care about workers’ rights and support the General Workers Union of Timor Leste in their pursuit of compensation for these workers. Please sign and share to demand Eduardo Belo pays workers their entitlements.

Insurance companies offer their staff financial incentives if they can figure out a way to avoid paying for injured workers' costs. They celebrate "wins" when they can deny -- or delay -- workers compensation. They even hold an awards ceremony each year to celebrate their success. But while they celebrate, injured workers are contemplating suicide. Insurance agents are dealing in human misery. We need to stop rewarding them for it. I lost my arm and was almost killed while working on a crusher at work. I had to break my own arm and use the broken bone to rip my arm off, in order to save my life. But that was still not as bad as the process of trying to get my insurance claim sorted. If you're seriously injured at work, you don't want the person assessing your compensation claim to get a cash bonus and a prize to turn you down. But that's what's happening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SdZ0IOvlag&feature=youtu.be

We are the cleaners at 469 La Trobe Street. Between us, we have decades of experience keeping your building clean and safe. But we’ve just been told that we are out of a job because the new cleaning company Elite Property care wants to replace us. Questions for the building manager? If you’ve got more to say, send your concerns to the building manager, CBRE, via Peter Starsunn, National Operations Manager at [email protected].