Almost 40% of women report being sexual harassed at their workplace. And only 17% of women feel they are able to report this harassment. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner's Respect@Work recommendations made clear what needed to be done. She recommended that the Sex Discrimination Act be amended to include a positive duty on employers to take reasonable measures to eliminate sexual harassment at work. Tragically, an average of one woman each week is murdered by a current or ex-partner. Access to paid leave is a real barrier to women being able to escape family and domestic violence. There is only one way to make sure all women have this workplace right. Morrison could act today to legislate for 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave for all Australian workers, but once again he has walked away from doing so. Women deserve better. Australia deserves better. Tell Morrison he can’t walk away from women.

Workers at Honey Birdette deserve a workplace that’s free from bullying, harassment and sexist standards. In 2015, Honey Birdette workers launched the Not Your Honey campaign and won a WorkSafe investigation into the sexual harassment and bullying at Honey Birdette. Seven years later, harassment and bullying at Honey Birdette boutiques is as bad as it has ever been. Employers have a duty to provide a workplace free from sexual harassment and gendered violence but clearly Honey Birdette’s Directors are providing an environment that enables sexual harassment.

These proposed laws seek to entrench discrimination and vilification of LGBTQ people, as well as women, people with disabilities, and single parents, on the pretext of religious freedom. The bill will: 1. Override state laws to allow any person making a ‘statement of belief’ to discriminate against queer people, women, and people with disabilities. 2. Allow religious schools to discriminate at the point of enrolment against queer students, and continue to discipline and fire queer teachers - under the guise of 'religious freedom'. 3. Prevent public health services from ensuring patients aren’t discriminated against by health practitioners exercising ‘religious freedom’. 4. Prevent universities from requiring students to meet professional standards if they object to them on religious grounds Federal Labor has made only the mildest of technical recommendations to reform the current draft of the bill, failing to address some of the most damaging aspects of the legislation. As Labor members, we are asked to finance, volunteer for, and otherwise fight with our MPs for our rights as working people. Our party is failing to stand up for our values, and for vulnerable communities, by supporting this bill.

Australia's pharmacists were chronically underpaid before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, but with the added pressures brought by the health crisis, more are now burnt out than ever before with many opting to leave the profession. Until pay rates increase, the industry will struggle to retain and attract professionals, increasing the already significant skill shortage.

The Palaszczuk Government has failed to provide direction to universities to ensure a safe and healthy university sector in Queensland. As a result, Vice-Chancellors have made different plans at different universities, creating confusion and inequity and placing staff and students at risk. We need Queensland Health and the Department of Education to sit down with the NTEU and university managements to come up with a uniform plan to make Universities as safe as possible. All university staff, students and their families should sign this petition.

Currently in Australia, a Royal Commission is looking into the shocking cases of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with a disability and Inclusive Education has been recommended during the hearings, utilising the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 9 and 24 (see reference below). These UN Articles can’t be properly implemented in our public schools unless we provide access to people who use wheelchairs. 15-20% of people in Australia have a disability. It makes sense to include disabled people in our community - we are not going away! If you have an understanding of inclusion and don't believe in segregation in our public schools, please sign this petition and share it so we can make this change for our future generations to learn to accept diversity from the time they start school. Thank you for sticking up for those who might be a little different you! Remember - it could be you next who might need to use a mobility device and need to be included... https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-2.html https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/

A COVID-19 outbreak at Melbourne’s historic Mitre Tavern involving nine staff occurred after an infected customer had visited the pub. Workers allege that management failed to inform them they may have been exposed to the virus until after staff members began testing positive to COVID-19. At a Melbourne cafe with close to 100 staff, workers say the venue’s Christmas party on Monday 20 December may have acted as a super-spreader event. On Tuesday 21 December workers told the union their colleagues began testing positive and informed venue management. Workers then said the venue waited until Thursday 23 December to inform all staff that they may have been exposed, and advised them to get rapid tests and isolate if positive. The venue continued operating until Christmas Eve before closing for two weeks. Staff estimate at least 50 workers became infected across the days leading up to Christmas. Meanwhile in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, a hospitality worker at a bar/restaurant has reported being called in to work while isolating and awaiting the results of a PCR test. Management also failed to tell staff at the venue when their coworkers had become infected. Workers estimate that approximately 40% of venue staff ultimately became infected with COVID-19.

Amidst the ongoing COVID pandemic and the greatest supply chain crunch Australia has ever seen, Patrick Terminals is willing to throw a spanner in the works of Australian port operations by cancelling their entire workforce’s Employment Agreement and forcing an unprecedented return to the basic Award. This would have a catastrophic impact on shifts, productivity and put an end to 24 hour operations at Patrick’s terminals in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth and make it harder for Australian businesses and consumers to access vital household goods.

Essential workers have continued to turn up to work throughout the pandemic. Already there have been over 700 public servants and disability workers infected with COVID-19 at work with disability workers also infected. Already we have seen PSA members in Disability group homes, Juvenile Justice, NSW Prisons, Private Prisons, transport, and now we are experiencing 100s of school closures and exposures. From the start of the pandemic there has been presumptive legislation to support essential workers when they get COVID with workers compensation, without the impossible task of having to prove you got it at work. This protects the following workers: -public health employees, -disability facilities, -educational institutions, including pre-schools, schools and tertiary institutions -police and emergency services -transport services, -libraries, -courts and tribunals, -correctional centres and detention centres, -places of public entertainment or instruction (including, museums, galleries, cultural institutions and casinos), The government has introduced a Bill to repeal these laws, which will mean that if you get COVID at work, you have to prove that you got it at work. The NSW Government has said that this change may take over $600 million out of the hands of injured workers and cut 75% of these claims. These cuts passed the lower house in November with all the Government members. The Bill has been referred to the Upper House Committee where it is likely to be voted on in February.

CSR's offer is downright offensive. It does not meet CPI and is well below industry standard in comparison to major competitors Boral and Etex who recently awarded workers a 4% and 3.5% increase respectively. CSR is now the biggest player in the industry with the lowest paid workforce. CSR could end all of this by paying its workers what they deserve. Thanks to the efforts of workers, profits have skyrocketed by 30% in just half a year. That’s $86.6 million lining the pockets of CSR’s wealthy shareholders and executives. And yet, no one has seen a cent of it except the big wigs. CSR boss Julie Coats has pocketed over $1 million in bonuses! Management has also threatened to cancel workers’ approved leave over Christmas, forcing them to work over the holidays. Taking away workers’ pay is one thing, but taking away their family time away is another. Shame, CSR! Stand with CSR workers and help end this bitter and pointless pay dispute before Christmas. Workers are depending on their income to put food on the table and presents under the tree.

When companies terminate workplace agreements, they cut all the conditions and wage increases that workers have fairly bargained for over decades. If the modest pay and conditions of Tuftmaster Carpets workers can be cut like this then it could happen to any worker on a workplace agreement in any industry. We must stand in solidarity with Tuftmaster Carpets workers to stop this from happening here but also to send a signal that we will not tolerate cuts to pay and conditions to any worker. Don’t let Tuftmaster sweep workers' rights under the rug.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) review into Ambulance Victoria (AV) has found bullying, discrimination, victimisation, and sexual harassment are rife throughout the service. "We heard that some leaders at Ambulance Victoria – including senior leaders, managers, and other senior staff – are undermining organisational messaging on a commitment to workplace equality and respectful behaviour by displaying incivility or unlawful workplace behaviours and by failing to call out this behaviour when it occurs." (Page 296, VEOHRC Independent Review into Workplace Equality in Ambulance Victoria) AV staff have bravely spoken out about nepotism and discrimination, and no amount of policy and procedure can create a safe workplace when senior leaders who fostered this culture of workplace harm are in power. "We also heard that individuals who were known to have perpetrated unlawful conduct in the past at Ambulance Victoria had been promoted to positions of authority." (Page 281 VEOHRC review) To rebuild trust within AV, senior leaders responsible for fostering the “boys club” and offering promotion and protection to bullies, should be investigated and their employment terminated. Within AV’s latest People Matters Survey, only 34% of staff said they believed senior leaders demonstrate honesty and integrity. AV senior leadership has scored the lowest out of 17 Victorian public sector health organisations on integrity, honesty, inclusion and support. (Page 53, People Matters Survey) 5 of the 6 drivers of unlawful and harmful workplace conduct at AV are attributable to the AV Executive. (Page 278 VEOHRC review) A fundamental shift in culture requires an equally large shift in the senior leadership at Ambulance Victoria to lead the service out of the dark. The committed members of AV’s workforce who have endured years of inaction need to see change today.