This week marks 170 years since the Melbourne University Stonemasons won the first 8 hour day in the world in Melbourne, Victoria. Since then, we have seen the invention of the telephone, the light bulb, the automobile, radio, airplanes, television, computers, the internet, and now generative AI. Yet workers still work the same amount of hours, often more, and the Top-end-of-town reap all the rewards. Australia led the world for workers' rights winning the 8 hour day. It's time to do it again. It's time for a Four Day Work Week.

In the middle of yet another global crisis disrupting supply chains, this is our moment to secure NSW’s future – because when overseas supply chains fail, it’s local workers and communities who pay the price. Public money should back local industry - creating secure jobs, strengthening communities and building a more resilient NSW. A Jobs First Commission would make sure government spending backs NSW first - supporting workers, strengthening local businesses, and protecting our state in uncertain times. Sign the petition today to call on the NSW Government to establish a Jobs First Commission that will: 1. Invest in local manufacturing and expand NSW domestic capacity  2. Build stronger, more resilient supply chains to protect our state in times of uncertainty  3. Prioritise safe, secure, and well-paid jobs for NSW workers

Why is this matter ‘urgent’?  Midwives are reporting:  • Increased numbers of women and babies entering the service  • Too few midwives to safely meet demand  • High numbers of new graduates needing clinical support  • Unsafe workloads and unsafe skill mix  • Essential equipment shortages due to unfunded requests  • Midwives being diverted from patient care to nonclinical tasks  These conditions increase the risk of delays, missed care and preventable harm. Midwives are doing everything they can, but they cannot safely continue under the current pressures. Key facts…  • Births in Tasmania increased by 3.92% between 2024 and 2025. With the closure of Hobart Private Hospital’s maternity ward, this has placed additional strain on the RHH maternity Midwives.  • At the same time as workloads increase, Tasmanian midwives are being asked to deliver safe care to one of the most high-risk maternity populations in the country under conditions that are increasingly unsafe. These include:  • Deep social disadvantage  • Among the highest rates of preterm birth   • The highest prevalence of chronic hypertension in pregnancy   • The second highest rate of smoking during pregnancy   • The highest maternal obesity ratenationally – driving higher intervention rates and clinical complexity  • Requests for essential equipment were declined, leaving midwives reliant on donated items.  • Members are questioning what happened to the $6 million in federal fundingallocated to both Calvary and THS (how much was allocated to RHH maternity services for infrastructure and equipment). 

Liberty Bell Bay provides hundreds of secure, well-paid jobs in a region where good jobs are hard to come by. More than 200 workers rely directly on this site, with many more jobs flowing through the local community. Despite market pressures from dumped overseas manganese products, this site is competitive by global standards. There is real interest from multiple buyers — but that only matters if the workforce stays and the plant keeps running. Our work here matters beyond this site. Manganese is a critical input into steel and other essential industries. Liberty Bell Bay supplies major Australian operations like BlueScope and Whyalla. If this site closes, those industries become more dependent on imports. This is also a future-facing industry. Bell Bay is powered largely by hydroelectricity, putting it in a strong position as Australia moves toward lower-emissions heavy industry. If the site closes, the cost won’t just be to workers — it will fall on taxpayers through termination liabilities and decommissioning costs. What happens now? The move into voluntary administration creates uncertainty — but also an opportunity to secure a future for this site. Liberty Bell Bay is a cornerstone employer in Northern Tasmania. Losing it would have serious consequences for workers, families, and the broader community. With targeted short-term government support, the site can be stabilised and sold to an owner committed to its long-term future. Workers, Tasmania and the country are better off if Bell Bay stays!

Housing costs are one of the biggest pressures facing working people. They affect where we can live, how far we have to commute, and whether we can get ahead. Union members are raising their voices to demand change because housing affordability won’t improve on its own. By coming together, workers can push for real reforms and make housing fairer. Sign the petition today if you agree the Federal Government must: 1. Create a fairer tax system for housing – reform negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions so home ownership is supported over investment for profit. 2. Invest in more public and affordable housing – commit to long-term, large-scale investment so more people can access secure homes.

We the undersigned, are writing to raise serious concerns about the combined impact of rising petrol prices, and inadequate award travel allowances payable to disability support workers. As you are no doubt aware, disability support workers are an essential workforce. Their work is inherently mobile. Workers are required to travel between multiple participants each day, often across significant distances, at all hours, and in locations where public transport is not a viable option. As a result, the vast majority rely on their own vehicles to deliver NDIS-funded supports. Sustained increases in petrol prices following the conflict in Iran have substantially increased the out-of-pocket costs borne by our members. However, neither the award travel allowance nor NDIS pricing arrangements adequately reflect this reality. The current award travel allowance only $0.99 per kilometre does account for sustained increases in petrol prices. As fuel costs rise, the real value of these allowances erodes further, effectively resulting in a reduction in workers’ take-home pay. At the same time, NDIS pricing settings do not provide a mechanism that meaningfully responds to sharp increases in fuel costs. While pricing models recognise labour and some operational costs, they do not adequately account for real-world travel expenses borne by workers. This situation is unsustainable. It is contributing to financial stress for workers, and ultimately undermines service continuity and choice for people with disability when workers are forced to consider working elsewhere due to increased out of pocket transport costs. In the immediate term, we urge the NDIA to work with Government, providers and unions to introduce an interim travel loading payable to disability support workers within NDIS pricing to respond to fuel price volatility. An interim loading would provide immediate relief while longer-term pricing and industrial issues can be addressed. Such a loading would be linked to recognised fuel price indicators to ensure it reflects real-world costs applied on a temporary basis while petrol prices remain elevated. Such an approach would be consistent with the way in which the sector sought to address financial implications on workers in the sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. Disability support workers perform skilled, complex and demanding work that is central to the success of the NDIS. They should not be expected to absorb escalating fuel costs simply to keep the Scheme functioning

DXC workers have gone 5 years without a pay rise, while inflation has risen by 24.5%.  After a long bargaining process and repeated below-inflation offers, workers have been forced to take protected industrial action for fair wages and conditions. DXC management can end this dispute at any time by bargaining fairly and coming to the table with an offer that recognises DXC employees' work, delivers a real cost-of-living wage increase, and protects existing workplace conditions. Sign this petition to tell DXC: stop lowballing workers and bargain fairly now. 

This is not just about a building. It is about protecting the dignity, comfort, and wellbeing of some of our most vulnerable community members.  Please sign this petition to tell the government that mental health services deserve better, and that consumers, their families, staff and the community deserve a say.

Coliban Water workers are the engineers, hydrologists, scientists and managers who keep safe, reliable water flowing to 180,000 people across the Bendigo and Castlemaine region. They’re delivering a $500 million infrastructure program to upgrade water and sewer systems that communities depend on every day. For five years, these regional professionals have watched their real wages go backwards while Coliban charges its customers the highest water prices in Victoria. Bills went up 4.5% last year alone, but the workers who keep the system running were offered just 2% annual increases. In real terms, that’s a pay cut of more than 10%. Now, instead of bargaining in good faith, this state-owned corporation is trying to bully workers out of exercising their legal right to take protected action. Threatening to stand workers down for setting an email auto-reply is not the behaviour of a responsible public employer. It’s union-busting, and it’s happening in the Premier’s own backyard.

We all deserve a good life – a roof over our head, food on the table, fuel in our cars, and the security of knowing our pay will cover the basics.   But for too many of us, that’s no longer the reality.  Instead of relief, we are being squeezed from every direction.  The Reserve Bank keeps raising interest rates, fuel prices are soaring, and big business is pocketing millions – while we are told to tighten our belts.  Workers didn’t cause the cost-of-living crisis – but we’re being asked to pay for it.  In the ASU’s Wages and Cost of Living Survey, almost 80% of workers surveyed have gone without meals because they couldn’t afford it. This is not ok.  Wages aren’t keeping up while corporate profits keep climbing.  When rent jumps, when groceries soar, when bills skyrocket – there’s only one solution that works: a real pay rise.  And pay rises don’t happen by accident. They happen when we come together and demand better. Pay rises start with us.  That’s why ASU members are campaigning for a 5% pay rise in this year’s Annual Wage Review – a rise that reflects the real cost of living and doesn’t leave workers behind.  The ASU is your voice for better pay - but the strongest voice is a united one. Join the campaign to win the wage increase you deserve. Become an Australian Services Union member today. 

We believe all survivors of sexual assault should be able to safely access counselling without fear of their offender ever eavesdropping in on the conversation. Yet our legal system currently undermines confidence in vital counselling services by enabling offenders and other third parties access to these files.  That is why we are calling on the Federal and all State Attorney Generals, starting with Michael Daley (NSW) and Michelle Rowland (Federal) to amend legislation so that sexual assault survivors can access counselling, safe in the knowledge that their notes and related files are completely protected, much the same as if they had spoken to their own lawyer. Sign and then share our petition. ‘Don’t Subponea Our Support: Keep Counselling Confidential’, is a campaign led by news.com.au journalist and survivor advocate, Nina Funnell, in partnership with Unions NSW, Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy, Marque Lawyers, along with survivors, advocates and experts. By signing the petition, you may hear from our campaign partners about this campaign. Rebuild community confidence in confidentiality. Sign the petition. If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual violence support is available at:  Full Stop Australia: 1800 385 578 (24/7 sexual domestic and family violence counselling service) 13YARNfor Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: 13 92 76  Rainbow sexual, domestic and family violence: 1800 497 212

Queensland Rail is trying to force through an extreme cut to stations across South East Queensland, leaving stations without any staff on them after 1 PM on weekdays and on weekends. Unstaffed stations create environments where passengers feel vulnerable, particularly at night or in quieter periods. Without staff present, incidents of antisocial behaviour, harassment, and crime are harder to prevent and respond to. Vulnerable passengers and school students will have no one to turn to for immediate help.  Students, particularly younger ones, will have no adult railway employee to turn to if something goes wrong, a missed train, a lost go card, a medical issue, or a frightening encounter with another passenger.  School students, especially teenage girls, are disproportionately targeted for harassment on public transport. Staffed stations act as a visible deterrent and provide immediate recourse. Removing that presence during peak student travel times creates environments where harassment is more likely to occur and less likely to be addressed.  Passengers who rely on staff assistance include people with disabilities requiring help with ramps, gap bridging, or navigation; elderly passengers unfamiliar with ticket machines or needing physical assistance; tourists and visitors unfamiliar with the network; and people with low digital literacy who can't self-serve via apps or machines. Cutting weekend and afternoon staff effectively locks these people out of public transport, which is a human rights concern, not just an inconvenience.  Public transport exists to serve the whole community, not just tech-savvy, able-bodied peak-hour commuters. Reducing service quality by removing the human element signals a retreat from that social contract.