NTEU NSW - UTS
Apologies to the comrades at UTS because last week’s report missed reporting on their strike action! Workers at UTS stopped work for 4 hours last week (26/11) in the first industrial action of their EBA campaign. Workers are fighting for no forced redundancies; workload protections; staff voice and transparency on UTS council and committees; a cultural safety plan co-designed and implemented with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff; protections against AI surveillance; 10 days paid union leave for members and improved change processes. A report in the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that VC Andrew Parfitt emailed staff on the morning of the strike and announced that a bunch of contentious proposed changes to the university would not be going ahead - most academic redundancies would now be voluntary; a proposed merger of the Faculty of Law, the Business School and the Transdisciplinary School would not take place; and teaching degrees would be preserved. I would love to hear from any workers at UTS for their thoughts on these backflips, and any whispers about next steps in the EBA campaign.
AWU Vic - Forest firefighters
Friday (28/11) marked 365 days since AWU forest firefighters started industrial action. After 12 months of various bans, stoppages and the October stop work rally, workers are upping the ante with new bans. New bans include a ban on using chainsaws and rake-hoes; all work at rec sites will stop and more stoppages. To annoy the bejesus out of the decision makers, every email sent by AWU members will CC the Environment Minister (Steve Dimopoulos) and the Department’s Deputy Secretary. With the Australasian Fire Authorities Council Seasonal Bushfire Outlook warning of increased bushfire risk in Victoria, it would seem to be a prudent time for the state government to ensure these crucial frontline workers get a fair deal.
HSU NT - Public sector health workers
1000 hospital workers across the NT will walk off the job from 10am today (3/12). The NT Government is now putting the Enterprise Agreement back out to vote with only an additional 1% in wages than the offer rejected by workers, and remains less than what police have received. The HSU is encouraging workers to vote no.
ANMF Vic - Healthscope
After taking stop work action on 20 November, nurses and midwives at Healthscope facilities in Victoria went on to vote down management’s proposed EBA (and unfair salary packaging clause) a week later on 27 November. The ANMF requested that Healthscope provide results of the ballot (how many voted, and breakdown of yes/no votes) but Healthscope has refused. The ANMF has “sought to resume negotiations” and in the meantime, industrial action will continue.
AEU Tasmania - Public sector teachers
Teachers in Tasmania’s public education sector will take strike action for the second time in two months next week. I couldn’t pin down details at the time of writing, the AEU has shared on social media that teachers will strike on Friday 12 December. Stay tuned for more details.
ETU WA - TK Elevators
Sparkies at TK Elevators in Perth have been undertaking industrial action for over 3 weeks. The ETU reports that negotiations have stalled. Last week, workers rallied outside the PTA in East Perth after reports of unlicensed scab labour being used to maintain lifts and escalators. If there’s anything worse than a scab, it’s an unlicensed scab - not only morally bankrupt, but dangerous as hell!
ANMF SA - Public sector nurses and midwives
Over the past fortnight, nurses and midwives in regional South Australia have rallied outside their hospitals demanding a better deal from the state government. Now stop work rallies at metropolitan Adelaide hospitals have commenced. Nurses and midwives kicked off the stopworks yesterday (2/12) at Modbury Hospital. Today (3/12) stopwork action will take pplace at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital from 1:30pm. Lyell McEwin Hospital; The Queen Elizabeth Hospital; Flinders Medical Centre; Royal Adelaide Hospital; Noarlunga Health Services; Repatriation Hospital and Glenside are to follow over the next two weeks. Get along and support nurses and midwives if you can.
HACSU Tasmania - Public sector health workers
HACSU members in Tasmania continue to make their displeasure with the state government’s wages offer known. On Thursday (27/11) workers at both the Mersey Community Hospital and the North West Regional Hospital held stop work meetings demanding a fair and respectful wage offer from the Rockliff Government.
HWU Vic- Public sector health workers
Tomorrow (4/12), for the first time in 25 years public sector HWU members will be taking protected industrial action. 75% of HWU members voted in the protected action ballot with 97% endorsing industrial action. According to the HWU, the Victorian Government has offered members the worst pay offer in the entire public sector - 3%. Workers are demanding liveable wages. Join HWU members at Trades Hall from 10am before marching to Parliament House at 11am. The HWU has been under administration since June this year following allegations of financial misconduct and corruption against former Secretary Diana Asmar and her factional allies.
AWU Vic - GMCT
AWU members at the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (GMCT) at Fawkner and Lilydale will commence industrial action on Friday (5/12). According to the union, workers want to send “a clear message that AWU members won’t be walked over.” AWU members will down tools from 12 noon to 4pm on Friday as well as imposing indefinite work bans on working overtime and disclosing union membership. Solidarity visits are welcome and they’ll be firing up the BBQ from midday at both Fawkner (1187 Sydney Road) and Lilydale (126-128 Victoria Road, Lilydale).
AFULE/RTBU QLD & WA - Pacific National
Workers at Pacific National in Queensland held a 36 hour stoppage from 6am on Thursday (27/11). Unions felt they had reached an impasse with Pacific National and a stoppage was necessary to put pressure on Pacific National. Workers are committed to fighting for a fair agreement that ensures parity with other traincrew. Unions are set to meet with Pacific National in the FWC today (3/12). Trouble is also brewing with Pacific National in WA, the RTBU applied for a protected action ballot in late November, PN have challenged this, and a hearing about that will also take place in the FWC today (3/12). Pacific National has threatened intermodal terminator operators with removing backpay if they took industrial action. Stay tuned for updates on both of these disputes.
Professionals Australia/UWU Vic - Ambulance Victoria
Workers at Ambulance Victoria have been undertaking industrial action over the last few weeks. Workers walked off the job in late November, and are chalking messages on ambulances. Members of AMPA (Ambulance Managers & Professionals Association, a division of Professionals Australia) escalated action yesterday by hijacking Ambulance Victoria’s social media to share information about their industrial action. While the posts were deleted, union members have promised to reveal details of more public action, due to start today (3/12). Workers who work in payroll, rostering, fleet, health and safety, HR, property, procurement, and training and keep ambulances running have been in negotiations with Ambulance Victoria for 7 months, and so far no offer has been made.
TWU - GKR
The TWU has come to an in-principle agreement with GKR. The deal includes a 13% increase to km/hourly rates over 3 years; a 19.5% increase to annual leave over 3 years (11.5% in year one); and delegates’ rights embedded into the agreement. Workers will also get backpay to 1 July 2025. Drivers at GKR were on strike all last week to put pressure on GKR for a better deal.
RAFFWU - Queensland Labor
Look, I do my best to not embroil myself with the machinations of the Labor party but a comrade shared with me a photo of a resolution from the Queensland Labor conference which was held over the weekend and I felt compelled to respond to it. The motion was entitled “Scab Unions have no place in Queensland” and moved: “That this Conference: 1. Condemns NPAQ, TPAQ, AMPS, RAFFWU and other Red Unions who continue to sow division within our union movement. 2. Calls on the Miles Government to continue to affirm their position and do everything it can to ensure that scab unions have no place in Queensland.” Well. One of these things is not like the other! NPAQ (Nurses Professional Association of Queensland); TPAQ (Teachers Professional Association of Queensland); and AMPS (Australian Medical Professionals Society) are self-described “Red Unions” with deep ties to the LNP. They were set up prior to the COVID pandemic by Graeme Haycroft the former chair of the LNP’s industrial relations and employment policy committee, but really came into their own challenging “vaccine mandates”. Haycroft’s credentials also include being a member of the HR Nicholls Society, a supporter of the Joh for PM campaign and a franchisee of labour hire fire Troubleshooters Available with which he intervened and severely damaged the AWU’s unionisation of shearers in Queensland in the 1990s. The problem with these so-called “Red Unions” isn’t that they are not registered trade unions or that they are not affiliated to the ACTU or QCU. The problem with these “unions” is that they exist to undermine the genuine organisation of workers and have no interest in the improvement of conditions for the working class as a whole. While it may be justified to call NPAQ; TPAQ and AMPS “scab unions”, this label is in no way suitable to apply to RAFFWU. RAFFWU was set up in 2016 by activists and workers following the Fair Work Commission overturning several EBAs that had been negotiated by the SDA and large, national employers including Coles. The FWC found that these EBAs left workers worse off than if they had been on the award, failing the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT). With the registered union (SDA) for their industry area caught doing sweetheart deals with the bosses, workers felt compelled to start a new union. RAFFWU describes itself as a “member-led, democratic union” and is doing what the SDA failed to do for decades - actually organising workers in retail and fast food rather than cutting deals with the bosses. RAFFWU is not undermining the organisation of workers, it is in fact improving the organisation of workers in its sector. So why has RAFFWU been lumped in with the “Red Unions”? While you or I might not give two shits as to whether a union is registered or has the blessing of Sally McManus, much of the union establishment is at best uneasy and at worst hostile towards RAFFWU. In addition to that, the mover and seconder of the motion both have links to the AWU a factional ally of the SDA. So why not lump in the SDA’s number 1 enemy (RAFFWU) with the “unions” set up by AWU enemy Graeme Haycroft?
That’s all I’ve got this week. On the weekend I wrote a note on Substack about the upcoming VAHPA Special General Meeting which is being held on Thursday 11 December at Trades Hall in Melbourne. The meeting is set to discuss the proposed merger of VAHPA and HACSU (two HSU branches). If you know any VAHPA members make sure they are aware of the meeting, and encourage them to get along to it! One question I have is how often have rank and file members in Australia managed to get a Special General Meeting (or similar) called? If you can remember other examples of this happening, please drop me a line and let me know. Keen to learn more. We all need to be thinking about how we can inject more democracy and transparency into our unions, and what tools are available to us.
In solidarity, Sarah
Hey Sarah, the Tasmanian public school strike is a half day strike. I can get you in touch with my partner who is a rep if you want some more details. Love your work.