Urgent vaccination of education staff is essential for their protection as well as the protection of students and their communities. It will also reduce the need in future to move to remote learning, which is so disruptive for students and parents. Most importantly, it is a key public safety measure to slow the spread of future outbreaks. Childcare, kinder and pre-school workers are, in many cases, continuing to work in very high-contact workplaces even when schools and TAFEs move to remote learning. The slow pace of the vaccine rollout, the lack of supply of vaccines and the failure to heed the call to prioritise education workers is putting staff, students and the broader community at risk.

In 2020 TPS Management disregarded the training Memorandum of Understanding with TasTAFE, changing the recruit training course, delivering it in an inappropriate setting and removing key content from the course. TPS Training Staff repeatedly raised valid, substantiated concerns, but it took Union members threatening industrial action and issuing safety improvement notices for TPS to listen. These decisions by TPS deprived recruits of appropriate training and qualifications, resulting in 36 recruits requiring retraining so they could deliver correctional services safely for staff and inmates, in line with community standards. The result of sending recruits back to training has • Cost TPS millions of dollars in over-time • Resulted in catastrophic short staffing and • Irreparably damaged the faith that employees and the community have in the accountability and integrity at TPS. Through this training saga, members were gobsmacked that the Minister and the Department of Justice were determined to ignore the truth and avoid accepting their mistakes. The current lockdowns and the damning report from the Custodial Inspectorate could have been prevented by listening to the trainers’ expert advice from the beginning. TPS vision statement says, “We act with integrity respect and accountability. Our workplaces are inclusive and collaborative”. As part of the demands members made to resolve the issues, we called for an independent investigation into the matter and the failure of the decision makers to act on the information presented to them by employees and this is yet to commence. The State Service Code of Conduct outlines appropriate behaviours expected of all state employees. TPS must urgently investigate this matter as a matter of integrity and public interest.

योगदानमा आधारित सामाजिक सुरक्षा ऐन, नियमावली र कार्यविधि तथा श्रम ऐन र नियमावलीमा रहेका थुप्रै अमिल्दा व्यवस्थाहरु सरकारी, निजी संगठीत तथा असंगठीत तमाम श्रमिकका लागि प्रतिकूल छन् । श्रमिकले आफ्नो सेवाकालभरीमा योगदान गरेको रकमको पूर्ण प्रतिफल पाउंन नसक्ने र योगदान रकमको सुरक्षाको अभाव देखिन्छ । त्यसैले नेपालका सरकारी, निजी, संगठीत तथा असंगठीत सम्पूर्ण श्रमिकहरुको सर्वाङ्गीण हित रक्षाको लागि हामीले न्यायको आवाज उठाएका हांै । नेपालको बैक, बीमा तथा वित्तीय क्षेत्रको नेतृत्वकर्ता एकमात्र व्यवसायिक कर्मचारी युनियन भएको नाताले समग्र बैंक, बीमा तथा वित्तीय संस्थाहरुमा कार्यरत सम्पूर्ण कर्मचारीहरुको खाईपाई आएको सेवासुविधा तथा सेवाशर्तको रक्षाको लागि अपरिहार्य अभियान नै अहिलेको विरोधको कार्यक्रम हो ।

The Covid-19 situation in NSW is extremely concerning. Once again, the failure to build proper, dedicated quarantine facilities has resulted in a serious local outbreak, this time of the incredibly contagious Delta strain. Vaccination rates remain woefully low. The NSW Government has acted far too slowly and half-heartedly in relation to the current outbreak. Nobody enjoys lockdowns, but the failure to enact a serious lockdown soon enough has let this outbreak grow, and now means that the lockdown must be extended and strengthened. Allowing the virus to spread would be a health disaster, not just for NSW but for all Australia.

The latest plan from the Morrison Government predicts 2 million jabs per week from September. But too many employers are not allowing workers to take the necessary time off to get the job. Those at the greatest risk include casuals and low paid essential workers. No worker should have to choose between getting vaccinated and paying the bills. Last year workers in their unions won paid-pandemic leave and Job Keeper. This year, together, we can win paid vaccination leave. We need a strong voice to demand nationwide paid vaccination leave to give workers paid time off to get the jab and recover from any side effects.

• ‘Spill and fill’ redundancy measures will only exacerbate the anxiety and stress experienced by staff. • The University has a responsibility to its staff and to do the right thing for them. • Redundancies may lead to important work being shifted onto remaining staff or outsourced to external agencies at a substantially higher cost than if performed by University staff. Your signature is important to demonstrate support for La Trobe staff and students and to ensure that the University uses our public resources to maintain high quality employment conditions, so that University staff can continue to deliver quality education and research across Victoria.

Operating since 1979, the Collingwood Community Gardens are under threat of being bulldozed. The destruction of this important cultural and community space was announced by Collingwood Children’s Farm Committee of Management on Thursday, 3 June. Citing ‘safety concerns’ such as uneven ground, the use of removable metal cladding and ‘piles of wood and sticks’ as the catalyst, the Committee of Management made the determination to indefinitely close the Gardens, situated on Crown land, without community consultation. There is no evidence that alternatives to the bulldozing of this important community space were considered, even after multiple volunteers offered to fix the issues cited in the report. For generations families have nurtured this space, using it as a place to share knowledge, connect with the earth and build community. Many Plotters (a warm term used by those that tend to the gardens) rely on these gardens for their food production, social activities, exercise and mental health. There are multiple stories of migrant families that have kept their culture and knowledge alive through the activities at the Gardens.

A good apprenticeship provides all the tools you need to get started in a trade, setting you on the path to a rewarding career. But these days, some apprenticeships can be like the Wild West, with cowboy operators not properly training us, leaving us unsupervised, stealing our wages or - worst of all - putting our lives at risk by forcing us to do unsafe work. I went through a lot of this during my apprenticeship. I was excited to start my Boilermaker apprenticeship. I said to everyone; I want to fabricate things, forge things and it's going to be really cool. But during my apprenticeship I'd be working inside these barrels, no ventilation, no extraction fans, nothing. I'd have a p95 mask and I'd be in there for four hours, but within an hour the thing would be black and you couldn't breathe through it. I'd ask the boss for a new one and he would ask why I'd needed it. Often there was no one supervising me and the boss wouldn't release me and the other apprentices so we could go to Tafe. Unfortunately, my story isn't unique. It's become so bad that only half of Victorian apprentices ever finish their training. This has to stop. I'm joining forces with other apprentices and young workers to campaign for change. Sign our petition to call on the Victorian Government to fix the apprenticeship system and protect all apprentices from abuse and exploitation.

I am a TasTAFE teacher who works closely with local industry to deliver the training and education they need in a workforce. For years I've pushed TasTAFE management to deliver the courses demanded by students and employers and I've sat down with government to discuss how TasTAFE can provide flexible training options. Deliberate underfunding from governments has already resulted in TAFE courses being cut and smaller regional communities and businesses losing quality training options. TasTAFE teachers and support staff understand the needs of their industries and students. We know how important we are to Tasmania's economic recovery. Instead of working together to ensure Tasmanians have the training and skills for our COVID-19 recovery, the Tasmanian Liberal Government has declared war on TAFE teachers and support staff with an ideological privatisation plan that will only delay economic recovery. Let's rebuild with TAFE together and stop the Liberal Party's disastrous privatisation plan.

THERE'S A CRISIS IN RESIDENTIAL CARE Every month hundreds of shifts are being covered by fatigued Youth Workers working excessive overtime. Many more are not covered at all. The staffing shortage has become so chronic that social workers are now being forced to care for children in offices because there aren't enough Residential Care staff to care for them. This puts vulnerable children and the staff that care for them at serious risk. Minister Sanderson has known about this for years, yet the problem is getting worse. The Public Service Association has calculated that we need at least 60 more full-time youth workers to ensure appropriate staffing in Residential Care. EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS MUST BE RESTORED In the last two State Budgets Minister Sanderson’s government has made significant cuts to successful early intervention programs. As a result we’re seeing more children coming into state care. We need these programs restored to ensure vulnerable children and families are supported to function independently. CUTS TO ABORIGINAL PROGRAMS MUST BE ABANDONED Many children in care are Aboriginal. Yet, Minister Sanderson’s government is planning to axe critical programs specifically designed to support Aboriginal children and their families.

Rail companies already have an extensive amount of data available (data Logger/Event recorders, Driver Advice Systems, radio voice recordings, and forward-facing camera) for investigation, compliance and assessments. Adding surveillance inside the cabin of locomotives will not prevent an incident from happening. Better training, support and a “no blame” culture will. We believe that the extended use of in-cab recording devices will have little if any impact on the efficacy of rail safety investigations and will have a significant detrimental effect on the mental health of Traincrew.

The WA FIFO Code of Practice clearly lists communication as a critical factor in maintaining the health and wellbeing of FIFO workers. Section 5.5 of the Code states: Access to reliable communications infrastructure is an important factor for managing the impact of remote and isolated work on mental health and wellbeing. Allowing contact with personal networks helps fulfil home-life roles and responsibilities, meet social needs and facilitate the transition between home and work. Where practicable and in line with site requirements, there should be flexibility for workers to contact family and friends during the working day. Where mobile phone coverage is unreliable or inadequate, alternative communication channels (e.g. satellite internet) should be available for personal use and able to cope with periods of high demand.