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.

UMSU has endorsed the system put in place at Adelaide University where students can see their results and then elect to have a passing grade converted to a non-graded pass which will not count for their WAM. Fails will become withdrawals – again not included in WAM calculations, and results pending can be used when components of courses are postponed to subsequent teaching period. This means that students have a safety net to prevent fails due to extreme circumstances, while maintaining the option of counting good results to their WAM.

These workers pick the fruit and vegetables we eat everyday, they’re in the hospitality industry, they’re delivery drivers and carers, they’re the backbone of our economy. The JobKeeper payment exists to provide a lifeline to those hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis, how can the Morrison Government justify their decision to exclude over 1.1 million migrant workers, temporary visa holders and casuals? The Morrison Government does not address the very real public health crisis that millions of workers are facing. Asking them to ‘go home’ or raid their meagre retirement savings to survive COVID-19 is not only short-sighted, it’s racist. So many of these workers have built lives here and have made Australia their home and with borders closed, these workers have nowhere else to go. The Government must extend income support to all workers. Not doing so risks the entire community’s health and shirks Australia's moral responsibility to look after the wellbeing of all who are here during an unprecedented pandemic. The lack of support for this group of people shows that the Government treats migrants and international students as cash cows. They hire them for cheap labour and ask them to pay huge education fees, but when things get difficult, they wash their hands clean of any responsibility. This pandemic does not discriminate based on visa status or employment status, and neither should we. Everyone deserves to be safe. That's why we need Minister Ruston to ensure a wage subsidy for all workers so that all of us can follow public health advice and stay safe during this crisis.

The Government must extend income support to all workers. Not doing so risks the entire community’s health and shirks Australia's moral responsibility to look after the wellbeing of all who are here during an unprecedented pandemic. The lack of support for this group of people shows that the Government treats migrants and international students as cash cows. They hire them for cheap labour and ask them to pay huge education fees, but when things get difficult, they wash their hands clean of any responsibility. This pandemic does not discriminate based on visa status or employment status, and neither should we. Everyone deserves to be safe. That's is why we need Minister Ruston to ensure a wage subsidy for all workers so that all of us can follow public health advice and stay safe during this crisis. Sign the petition now.

Amid the current COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Australians are facing the very real prospect of losing their job and they need the government to act – this is especially true for those in who work in the language colleges, the training sector and universities.   The recent JobKeeper wage subsidy announced by the government excludes casuals and their families in language colleges, private training providers, and universities across Australia. This is serious.  Language colleges bring billions of dollars into the economy and private training providers enrol around 80% of the 4.1 million students in vocational education and training.   Trainers and assessors do the heavy lifting in delivering the quality education and training that makes people job ready, and our universities are involved in cutting-edge research that shapes Australia’s future. Let the federal government know that it is only by keeping people in jobs that the future of Australian workers, their families, their communities and the nation’s economy can be secured. If we guarantee wages now, we will keep people in jobs and ensure that the economy can recover once this crisis has passed.   Sign the petition for a guaranteed wage subsidy for workers in post-secondary education and let the government know it needs to put workers first.

We , like many other Australians have mortgages, rents, children , family that we need to support and we rely on weekly income in order to survive.

On Monday March 30th, the QUT Guild Governance team spoke with the University Registrar and presented the results from the COVID-19 Student Concerns feedback survey. Over 450 students completed the survey and wrote extensively on how the transition to online learning and QUT’s response had impacted them and what more support they needed. This information was presented to the University Registrar who stated it will be considered by the relevant stakeholders. But we can't stop there, we need to keep the momentum up to ensure that the University administration takes your feedback seriously. In our review of the survey, we identified five major themes of student concerns which we have outlined in detail above. We are calling on the University to urgently take action, address these concerns & #saveourstudents

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

Amidst the ongoing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, HDRs at Sydney University have been left behind. We are calling on the University to look after its HDR community as this crisis continues to unfold and impact its staff and students. HDRs candidatures have been seriously impacted by the pandemic and necessary responses from the University, including campus closures, intermittent (or foreclosed) access to the resources that we need to complete research, and travel restrictions. COVID-19 has constituted an abrupt break from the conditions that our successful candidatures rely upon. Further, and as the University is aware, the stipends that some of us currently receive are not enough to live on - and as a result of the crisis many of us have lost the jobs that helped us to make rent, and otherwise afford to live in Sydney. Those of us without stipends have been placed in an even more tenuous position as the economy contracts. We believe that in these unprecedented times the University should look to its role as a vital part of the Australian economy to look after its HDRs, and provide emergency income support for its hard-working early career researchers. As a leading Australian university, this could also set the standard for what other universities roll out in the weeks and months to come. We look to some of the existing responses from the Australian Government and other Australian universities as precedent: 1) The Government has rolled out a Coronavirus Supplement to new and existing eligible income support recipients; and 2) ANU has announced emergency financial support for students alongside a blanket six month candidature and stipend extension for all HDRs. *Postgrads for Fair Pay acknowledges and supports the existing ‘USYD Honours, Masters and PhD Students Open Letter’ to the University. Our call for COVID-19 relief measures is from representatives of the PhD and MPhil/MA HDR community and sets out demands particular to this community.

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.