Unionists and health and safety representatives, as well as family and friends, mourned workers who have been killed, disabled, or physically or mentally injured at work on International Workers Memorial Day. Chloe DS reports.
Luke Hilakari
Australian Services Union and the Municipal and Utilities Workers Union members working for Moreland City Council have taken strike action after management offered a pay cut. Darren Saffin reports.
The National Union of Workers (NUW), which represents Chemist Warehouse workers that had been on indefinite strike since March 12, announced on March 28 that workers had voted that morning to accept a new agreement covering those employed in the company's distribution centres across Victoria and Queensland.
Under the slogan “Australia needs a pay rise”, an estimated 170,000 trade union members and their supporters filled Melbourne’s CBD on October 23 for the Australian Council of Trade Unions-initiated Change the Rules rally.
“Crystalline silica is the new asbestos, but Australians are simply not aware of the dangers involved in working with such a common substance as compressed stone,” Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) secretary Luke Hilikari said at the release of the new silica dust standard in late August.
There has been a significant rise in the number of workers suffering silicosis and lung cancers caused by inhaling silica particles while manufacturing, cutting and installing compressed stone benchtops.
More than 2000 delegates from unions across Victoria overwhelmingly supported state-wide action on May 9 as part of the Change the Rules campaign.
The April 17 meeting was one of the largest gatherings of unionists seen for some time as delegates from a range of blue- and white-collar sectors filled the Melbourne Town Hall, with about 200 more being turned away at the door.