I'm Brendan, and I'm an injured worker. After 25 years as a specialist mental health nurse, I experienced a major workplace injury in August 2018. As a mental health nurse and someone who has been injured at work, I know first hand the affects it has and I'm asking for change to support other workers who get hurt at work. For the first time in over two decades, I found myself unable to work and having to deal with the loss of identity, income and meaning that is bound up in that. At the same time, I was having to navigate the bureaucracy of Work Cover. It just doesn’t work for workers. Its primary objective is to get you back to work or off their books as soon as possible. They don’t really care what anxieties or stresses may result. Injured workers face loss of income, loss of identity and isolation - and so do their families. Health and Wellbeing plans are a necessary step to manage the increasing mental health injuries suffered by workers in this country. It was a chance conversation that I had with my union in 2019 that led to the very first Injured Workers Day taking place this year, in 2020. I spoke to my union about the stress and invisibility I felt as a newly injured worker, and how I felt the union movement needed to do more to support people like me. They agreed, and we've worked together build this new movement. Injured Workers Day has existed in Ontario, Canada since 1983, lobbying for visibility for injured workers and changes to their workers compensation scheme. They too are hosting a day of online action on Injured Workers Day, and we’ll be a part of each other’s events. In some ways, the limitations placed on us all by the coronavirus has made it easier to build international solidarity around this important issue. Injured Workers Day will take place on Monday June 1st, LIVE on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/injuredworkersday/ The event will be all about connecting with, and empowering injured workers across Australia. The first year of this new movement will be about bringing injured workers out of the shadows and enabling them to develop and lead a public conversation about what’s broken in the system, and what needs to change. I also want June 1st to be seen as an important reminder, at this time of massive change in industrial relations in Australia, that the union movement is a collective that embraces all workers- people from all backgrounds, workers who’ve been injured, and workers laid off or impacted by the coronavirus. I recognise the impact of the coronavirus on workers across Australia, both due to loss of jobs, but also the injuries faced and loss of workers' lives resulting from this pandemic. Many Australians who experience mental health issues are experiencing increasing symptoms due to the social isolation measures currently in place; and mental health workers are under increased pressure due to the high acuity of illness and limited community supports available to people. The Coronavirus pandemic forced us to adapt Injured Workers Day to a day of online action. By this time next year, my hope is that we’ll have built an organised movement with a clear set of demands, and an agenda for political change. I hope next year we’ll be able to assemble in person- in protest and in solidarity, as we chart a way forward to fix a broken system.

The TWU seeking fairness in the transport Industry. During this pandemic, if bus drivers are required to self-isolate and are not sick OR if bus drivers are affected by Covid-19 they should be entitled to the same special leave provisions extended to drivers employed by the NSW Government. All bus drivers whose employer is contracted to Transport for NSW should be treated the same and offered the same protections during this pandemic. TWU Buses – Delivering results for all bus drivers in NSW.

The COVID 19 crisis is not over, home care workers are on the frontline working in the community with vulnerable members of society. Union members have won special leave, they are starting to get the PPE they need and have access to COVID19 virus testing. However temperature testing is still missing! Contact less thermometers can make a huge difference to identifying symptoms sooner rather than later in workers and clients. To ensure adequate work health and safety standards for workers as well as continuing to stop the spread of this virus, home care workers need temperature testing thermometers now!

Everyone deserves the right to be safe at work. Every worker deserves the right to get home safely to their family at the end of the day. According to Safe Work Australia, 63 workers have died at work in 2020. From 2014 to 2018, there was an average of 56 workplace deaths in New South Wales per year. Clocking on at work should never be a death sentence. Most workplace deaths are easily preventable making these deaths even more tragic. Current laws in NSW allow employers to only get fined for the deaths of workers, even when they have been found to be negligent. By introducing industrial manslaughter as a criminal offence in NSW punishable by imprisonment, employers will be forced to take work health and safety seriously and avoid any more easily preventable workplace deaths. Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland have already introduced industrial manslaughter laws and these laws have helped to ensure that workers are better protected whilst at work. It’s time for New South Wales to do the same. NSW Young Labor wants all workers in New South Wales to be safe and protected at work. No one should go to work and not come home. (Banner image via Depositphotos)

Essential workers are putting their lives at risk for all of us. So why can’t we do the right thing by them? Essential workers in NSW are being asked to work with little or no safety equipment. They come into contact with people daily, putting themselves at greater risk of contracting COVID-19. They do this to keep our state healthy, safe, moving and functioning during the coronavirus. Yet, face masks are being rationed in hospitals. Hand sanitiser is in short supply in schools and childcares centres. Others miss out entirely on health or safety equipment. Essential workers care for our elderly, nurse our infirm, produce our food and stock our supermarkets. They ensure the lights are on and water is running. They fight the virus in hospitals, and keep our state clean, safe, moving and functioning during this exhausting pandemic. The Government must step up and guarantee personal protective equipment (PPE) for all essential workers. If they aren’t safe, none of us are! PPE includes medical masks, gloves, hand sanitiser, gowns, eyewear, face shields and other items. Different essential workers will have different needs. The Government must immediately talk with workers and their representatives to find what they need. They must fund, deliver or mandate employers provide the required PPE.

Freight rail workers are keeping Australia moving during this challenging time. They are making sure necessities and raw materials continue to find their way to supermarkets, retail stores, pharmacies, petrol stations, flour mills, manufacturing plants and construction projects. Changes to working conditions affecting rostering can have significant effects on safety and fatigue levels. The other changes could drastically affect people's families with proposals for forced transfer. The Company's attacks on your conditions is creating an unhealthy and increasingly stressful working environment potentially causing employees to take the focus off COVID-19 issues! If Pacific National get away with this, it's a blank cheque for employers in the rail industry to use the current crisis as an excuse to avoid talking with workplace delegates and offcials about critical changes in the workplace.

The decision by universities such as MONASH, LATROBE, MELBOURNE and DEAKIN to defund cleaning contracts at this time has resulted in many cleaners being stood down without pay and, as many are international students, without any financial means upon which to survive. Universities receive large amounts of public money and rely on fees from international students such as those who have been stood down, this gives them a social responsibility for the conditions of these workers. Also, there is a continuing need for extra cleaning work to protect university staff from COVID-19. It is shameful that Australian Universities such as MONASH, DEAKIN and LATROBE who rely so heavily on the income they receive from international students have now left those students without any financial resources upon which to survive in this time of crisis.

Over a month ago, union delegates reached out to management in order to begin the process of establishing designated working groups and electing HSRs. Management have refused to speak to us about the formation of Designated Working Groups in order to form an Occupational Health and Safety Committee. As we have notified management on multiple occasions that Victorian safety legislation says that we have the right to elect Health and Safety Representatives (HSR’S). But, as Grant acknowledged in the workplace meeting on the 17/3/20 management have both failed to respond to our request and have outright refused us. This is a clear and very serious breach of the OHS Act which outlines in sections 43-46 that: if one or a group of employees makes a request to be represented by an HSR, then the employer has 14 days to commence the arrangements and do everything reasonable to start these negotiations within this period. In order to protect the health and safety of workers within the workplace and ensure our voices are heard, we elected several HSR’s. As democratically elected HSR’s we put together a list of OHS concerns which you can read here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yLzBD4y_8dwgMhgTSOaEoy4AYGxWN5lf3Rry-ZDijdM/edit?usp=sharing) , we sent this to management via email last week, but they have, once again, failed to respond. We are very disappointed with management's continued refusal to communicate with us and acknowledge our concerns. This shows a clear disregard for the both law and our own health and safety. They are in breach of both our Enterprise Bargaining agreement, which they agreed to follow when they signed it in 2017, and the bare minimum Victorian safety legislation. We Demand that : 1. Management recognises us as democratically elected Health and Safety Representatives and for them to communicate with us directly, both in good faith and as required to do so by law. 2. Begin the negotiation process of Designated Working Groups immediately, in order to ensure that the voices of workers are heard and our health and safety at work is upheld. 3. Uphold the the E.B.A and Victorian safety legislation, this includes reimbursing interviewers for costs associated with setting up working from home, beginning the negotiations of DWG’s and many more things which we outline our letter to management.

During this crisis, there is no more important time to show our support for Australia's most vulnerable citizens. They deserve to be safe and supported, and the workforce they rely on need to be safe and supported as well. These measures need to apply to all people with disability and the workers who support them – not just those funded through the NDIS. If we are going to beat this crisis, we need action now. Demand action. Sign the petition NOW.

We are public and private health workers, aged care workers and paramedics in NSW and the ACT who are currently working on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19. We are proudly keeping our community safe through early intervention, testing, and treatment while also caring for some of the most vulnerable patients and residents in the state. We are suffering from a world-wide personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage that is needed to keep ourselves, our patients and residents safe. While we are seeing fights break out in supermarkets over toilet paper or loaves of bread, we are forced to ration gowns, gloves, masks and sanitiser. We've been asked to work with little to no PPE, which further puts the whole community at risk as we can not adequately stop the spread of the virus we are trying so desperately to eradicate. Without protection we are also putting our families at risk of exposure when we finally knock-off after a long day of protecting the family and friends of others. We can't stop this virus if we cannot keep ourselves or our patients safe. This is why we are calling for immediate funding and facilitation of the Australian manufacturing sector to produce this life-saving equipment. Australian industry will keep Australia safe. Brad Ross, Operating Theatre Assistant - Private Hosptial Tess Oxley, Paramedic - NSW Ambulance Lindy Twyford - Aged Care worker Doris Borg - Ward Assistant - Public Hospital

Students, backpackers and other temporary visa holders contribute to the Australian economy just like citizens... we pay our tax/ rent/ bills and Australia is quite unique that part of it's economy relies on backpacker tourism/ education/ farm work/ hospitality and professional workers (just to name a few) from temporary visa holders almost 3million of your 25 just so you get an idea. It's time to open your eyes and see the bigger picture. People are struggling who can't get home, flights cancelled, lost their jobs and kicked out of accommodation with visas soon expiring. There has barely been any mention of offering help or even preliminary extension of visas at the very least. New Zealand has offered some great help to temporary visa holders, well done Jacinta!! It is clear that help is out there however right now it is being ignored. Australia needs to be doing the same!! Can you imagine the spread of the virus if all temporary visa holders were to up and leave to their own country right now? No wonder our death toll is rising overnight still letting people fly in and out and also what kind of a hit would Australia's economy take even further if all of those people were to leave? Of course Australian citizens are the priority but what about the rest of us that you rely so heavily on? We've also been told to stay home and refrain from non-essential travel... so what is the right answer? I personally have been in Australia 4 years now- started as a backpacker and gone on to do further study whilst also working. I have been out of the UK long enough that the British embassy also can't help me. As a student I am taxed at exactly the same rate as Australian residents and all backpackers get 65% of their superannuation funds taken off them by the government when they leave the country... that's interesting isn't it. Never mind all the contributions other skilled workers/ visa holders/ New Zealand citizens make to the Australian system and are entitled to nothing or have no flexibility or consideration for their visas and situations at this point in time. If and when everything does go back to 'normal' not only will there be lots of disgruntled temporary visa holders who have not had a second thought if it carries on this way but also a lack and shortage of willing and skilled workers in which we fill the gap. The ultimate primary industry that Australia operates on is agriculture and labouring. How many of these people that work within this sector do we reckon alone are on temporary visas? Guess what else the Australian government considers a vital resource to Australian society which they intend to grow further year upon year... education. Yes it seems that of course we as temporary visa holders rely on Australia but but it also seems simultaneously Australia relies on us. A migration agent said to me earlier " When I write visas for sponsoring employer as a migration agent, I am required to provide submissions that neither temporary visa holder workers nor Australian workers are discriminated and they have equal pay. If our government instils that in order for these workers to fill skills shortages, especially in regional Australia, and grants them visas to be here medium to long term, why the government can not offer Jobkeeper option for each and every one of them, so the employer can continue paying these people who were stood down (ie CHEFS from Hilton, Mirvac, Sheraton, cafes/restaurants, etc.) for the example." It doesn't make much sense to me either... My visa expires in June and I've just lost my job where I've been working for 2years since I started my studies. I actually work in HR & Recruitment so part of my job is to help people including Australians find a job and bring in an income. Yet when it comes to me there is zero help for my situation and I'm sure I'm just one of thousands who feel the same way. I never miss a bill payment or my rent and I only just finished my studies last week which has cost me more than $10k+ all up which has nicely gone back in to the Australian economy/government and before you ask, no I don't receive financial help from my parents. In a pandemic like this we all need to stay where we are and help each other. I'm also from the UK which is part of the Commonwealth so really I'm Australia's neighbouring sister... does leaving a sister potentially unable to get home at risk of catching the virus and bringing it back to England where the death toll is out of control back to her parents (who are 60years+) when I've done everything right in regards to the system sound good to you? It sure as hell doesn't to me. It's best for me to stay put until all of this has blown over. In fact forget I'm from the Commonwealth, it doesn't matter who you are or where you are from we are all in this together. COVID-19 has affected each and every one of us. It's time we all pull together, help each other out, be kind and consider as many people as possible to pull through the other side.

Public sector workers provide vital services to our communities, and we need them more than ever during this crisis. These workers are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic- and the State Government needs to provide them with genuine support. While implementing special paid leave for workers, the State Government has mandated that any public sector worker who falls ill must use up their existing sick leave before being eligible for special paid leave. This is not good enough. These workers are putting themselves at risk to guarantee our safety. This State Government policy will increase the risk that workers exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 continue working for fear of being left with no sick leave in the future. We cannot ask workers to have to make this choice, nor is it safe for our communities. Sign now to support public sector workers. Sign now to protect public health.