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Alison Pennington Profile picture
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12 Oct, 6 tweets, 2 min read
As shops fling open consider work & pay of essential retail workers. Of 1.3m in sector: 54% women. 40% casual. 55% have post-tax income <$1k/wk. Higher caring demands than average Australian. UNSW & @SDAunion launch important report 2day w @zdaniel. Some key findings: 1/5
Casualisation of part-time work causing severe work/care crisis. Workers have no control or agency over hrs. Many short shifts scheduled over multiple days. Staff surveyed fear turning down shifts. May not be rostered for 3-4 wks. Employers expect full flexibility & punish. 2/5
Patchwork shifts are poorly matched w childcare system which needs full day bookings. Leave balances being exhausted to care for kids, elderly & disabled. Insecure wrk creates intergenerational disadvantage. 54% said kids miss out on sport, music. 3/5 @unionsaustralia
Retail workers with care demands experiencing “cascading pressure”. “Things out of control all the time”. Chronic health problems compounding. Workers go to work sick. Kids to school sick. (Clearly NOT safe, pandemic-proof jobs). 4/5
Retail workers need working time security, higher pay & care work supported & valued in workplace laws. SDA propose creation of specific carers leave entitlement & enforceable right to care. 5/5
Great coverage from @JewelTopsfield @smh on work, family & care crisis for retail workers.
smh.com.au/national/retai…

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More from @ak_pennington

Alison Pennington Profile picture
30 Sep
In May, Cwth told VIC facing Delta & entering shutdowns: "No financial support. It incentivises lockdowns. That's bad for the economy." By July: "OK, some supports, but only for lockdowns less than 1 wk". 1/3
Delta hits NSW in July. Cwth: "Send urgent financial supports. Lift payments higher. NSW is engine of Aus economy. It's in national interest we put in place different arrangements. Redirect VIC's vax allocations to NSW." 2/3
September, Cwth & Gladys: "NSW leads the vax race. Living w the virus means death but NSW opens & will lead economic growth. It's time to unwind supports. Snap back. VIC? Why you still locked down?" Get ready for: "VIC is dragging the economy down". 3/3
Read 4 tweets
Alison Pennington Profile picture
21 Sep
Far-right riots a shocking moment in pandemic. Majority of Australians support public health, vax & govts that protect lives. They need clear information alongside violent footage on their TVs. It's clear we're FAR past describing riots as "ordinary" elements of society. 1/5
Unions have stated far-right targeting them all pandemic. There's a reason leaders like @sallymcmanus speak with authority. It's not new. Fascist groups world-over target unions as collectivist wrking class orgs. 1 planned to bomb VTHC last yr. 2/5
abc.net.au/news/2021-03-2…
Importantly, the brains behind riots aren't wackjob conspiracists (their explanatory models aren't coherent enough). They're fascists. They believe in great replacement theory. Social darwinism. They’ve planned terror attacks. They’re organised. 3/5
Read 5 tweets
Alison Pennington Profile picture
21 Aug
6 years ago this day my life changed. I sat at the doilyed dining table of an old Greek woman's home I didn't know in Hurstville, Sydney. Floor-to-ceiling white. I was housesitting, looking after two yappy dogs while she travelled to Greece. 1/8
I'd landed here through a housesitting website after years of insecure share-housing & crisis accommodation. It was a 1mo stay & I thought I'd hit the jackpot! No stable home in an unforgiving dog-eat-dog-cultured city like Sydney was rough. 2/8
I'd just got the call. I landed a permanent full-time job in the public service in Canberra. I called my family teary & ecstatic. Secure permanent work was about the ceiling of our expectations in this broken economy. 3/8
Read 8 tweets
Alison Pennington Profile picture
12 Aug
Low vax targets cannot substitute for continued public health restrictions to control disease spread. We need both. Why? We dont have vaccines for children yet. Vulnerable ppl incl many disabled cannot be vaccinated & are at high risk of dying if we allow unmitigated spread. 1/6
Long-COVID among youth rising elsewhere in world like UK. LT impacts on kids not yet known nor costs & capacity of healthcare systm to cope. New variants are emerging, of which current vaccines may not provide full protection in LT (better than no protection tho, get vaxd!). 2/6
Like NZ Aus can recommit to elimination & protect ppl against death & serious illness. NSW hasn't reproduced successful VIC strategy but it still can! Wrkplce plans in essential industries, cut output, test & isolate payments. Feds can reinstate JK & CS to support standdowns. 3/6
Read 6 tweets
Alison Pennington Profile picture
25 Jul
Excluding welfare recipients from Cwth disaster payments is a failure on both public health & income security grounds. It will deepen inequality. Take scenario: Two 21yo uni students, both live w parents, & both worked 8 hrs/wk. Earnt $216 p/wk before lockdowns. 1/5 #COVID19nsw
The poorer student receives Youth Allowance at $156/wk + PT job income= $372/wk. Pays board to rents to help w bills. The wealthier student never got YA due to high parent income & assets. Both cant work. The wealthier qualifies for Cwth disaster payment- receives $375/wk. 2/5
The low-income student does NOT qualify for disaster payment - receives just $156/wk in YA. Nearly $220 LESS/wk than wealthier student. Govt has fostered 2 classes thru re-design of COVID payments. People w highest need excluded, deepening inequality. 3/5
Read 6 tweets
Alison Pennington Profile picture
23 Jul
The mission? Stop people moving & stop transmission. Keep bare minimum economic activity functioning to support most staying home (food, healthcare, utilities). To do this NSW govt need industry & workplace-level plans. It's what VIC did to stop 2nd wave. 1/3 #COVID19nsw
Govt coded essential/non-essential sectors. Assigned transmission risk rating. Shutdown non-essential biz. Calculated outputs needed from essential high-risk settings (ie abattoirs). Intervened to reduce output, reduce staffing. +200k workers stood down w income supports. 2/3
Employee coordination mechanisms were critical. Unionised workers in cleaning, logistics & meat shut sites w COVID cases. VIC 2020 was feat of war-time logistics & planning. Immense sacrifice. Competing interests but strong govt leadership pulled all to reach zero-COVID outcome.
Read 4 tweets

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