Over the last 2 years the Albanese Govt has delivered these rights for workers:
1. Closed employer wage cutting loopholes
2. Stronger & better bargaining rights 
3. The right to disconnect
4. 10 days DV leave
5. 2 weeks extra paid parental leave 
6. Super on parental leave 
1/4 7. Criminalised wage theft
8. Stronger rights for casuals
9. Abolished open ended fixed term contracts
10. Made sham contracts unlawful
11. Stopped wage cuts for labour hire workers
12. World first rights for gig economy workers
13. Rebalanced the Fair Work Commission 
2/4

It’s a good time for a reminder on the meaning of important terms: “scab”, “picket line” and “solidarity”. First of all, scab, to scab & scabbing. This was first an Australian word which spread throughout the world to describe someone who works during a strike 🧵 1/6 By working during a strike a scab is supporting the employer against their fellow workers undermining the effectiveness of the strike. Whilst other workers are losing money & taking risks they choose to work & be paid & support the employer 2/6

Today Morrison visited Austal Ship who receive Govt contracts.
Twice his Govt were told this company was engaging in severe exploitation of temp visa workers being paid just over $10/hour and no super.
He was last told in writing just 15 days ago! 👇🏽 Morrison should be questioned by the press who went with him. Are these the types of jobs he is creating? What action has he taken? Does he still support this company? Does he believe local workers should be employed instead? What did the Fair Work Ombudsman's inquiry find?

Attention (some) economists & the RBA:
1. A better, deeper understanding of how IR laws work to suppress wages is needed to help explain why wage growth has been constantly low. Ignoring these settings is why you struggle to understand what has been happening to wages outcomes 2. Imagine if you are in wage negotiations and the employer has the ability to threaten to cut wages and take away conditions built up over decades if you don't agree to a low offer. This is exactly what has been happening in bargaining for seven years hsfnotes.com/employment/201…

Update on paid pandemic leave:
We have been trying to fix the holes in the current support system for workers who are Covid positive, close contacts or carers. You can now use a RAT as proof to access pandemic leave and the payment will increase to up to $750/week after 18 Jan Close contact definition still excludes workplace contacts which is ridiculous, dangerous and unfair. You can work with someone for 8 hours and still not be defined as a close contact.

Lots of people have been contacting me about their employers insisting they turn up to work when they are sick or symptomatic and they cannot access a test to prove they have Covid.
These are your rights: Regardless of whether you have Covid, if you are unfit for work you have a right to leave. Even if you are casual or have run out of paid personal/sick leave, you are entitled to leave & your employer must not take action against you for doing so, even if you can't get a test.

The ACTU condemns the violent attack on @CFMEUVicTas office orchestrated by violent right-wing extremists and anti-vaccination activists.
This violent attack on union property which endangered union officials, staff and the public was reprehensible. Workers across the country are under extreme pressure because of the threat to life and health the pandemic poses, and the restrictions health experts deem necessary to save lives. Those exploiting this pressure and seeking to divide people are a danger to us all.

Unions have a lot to deal with at the moment, but we are now facing what looks like an organised push by far right groups & wanta be libertarian politicians to convince ppl not to get vaccinated. This is infuriating 1/5 It is working ppl around the world that are dying because they are unvaccinated and health care workers who are suffering the trauma of overwhelmed hospitals 2/5

Let's introduce Australian Unions using Australian birds. The ACTU @unionsaustralia is the peak body for Australian unions so we are like the Wedge-tail Eagle with our huge wingspan & State varieties @TheQCU @unionsnsw @VicUnions @TasUnions @SAUnions @Unions_WA The @NTEUNational represents academic and general staff in higher education. They love purple like the Purple-crowned fairy-wren

I reckon I was the first person from Victoria to go to NSW after the Victorian lockdown. I did it at the end of the lockdown via 15 day quarantine in Canberra. It was a shock to realise how my mindset was so different to everyone around me when I arrived in Sydney. My Sydney friends said I was a bit strange when I arrived, and compared to them I was. Part of this was a product of isolation and an over-reaction, but most of it was to do with a changed mindset the outbreak and the lockdown rules, like compulsory masks, in Melbourne created.

Do you know a Victorian? Contact them, they really need to hear from you. They have achieved something incredible, something no one else in the world has crushing the coronavirus. Yet few will be congratulating them or even acknowledging how hard it has been. Victorians feel abandoned by most of the media & isolated from the rest of the country. Every person has suffered in ways it’s hard to explain. Job & income loss & depressing isolation. Months & months virtually alone with the joys of life, laughter and other people stripped out.

A message to Sydney from Melbourne ---
Five things that must be done NOW to stop Covid19 spreading which will save hundreds of lives, hundreds of thousands of jobs and avoid a lockdown like Victoria: 1. Paid pandemic leave

80% of transmission in Vic was caused in workplaces. 1 in 3 workers have no sick leave. Fix it, give all workers sick leave now. The Fed Gment says they will pay for some of it, yr Premier has to act to implement it. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 7:45pm.

I went for a walk just before curfew. *This is this something I thought I’d never say*

I’ve found it interesting watching the reaction to this new destruction in the face of a deadly out of control virus on social media. It is making people question labels they could easily once apply to themselves, like “libertarian” or views on the state keeping right out of individual lives. I question these things myself. But how can all liberties be equal?

Two years ago myself and @DanWaltonAWU witnessed the AFP raid his union's offices. When we turned up to the AWU Melb office, the nations media were already assembled outside. They were there because Michaelia Cash's office (she was the Minister at the time) tipped them off. The whole setup was clearly designed to make unions look bad in the eyes of the public by ensuring the raids were seen in living rooms across the country that night. Afterall, police only do raids when something really bad has happened, right?

Scott Morrison's anti-union "Ensuring Integrity" laws that are before the Senate would allow unions to be shut down if workers take unlawful industrial action. Here is an important reminder of all the things all Australian love & enjoy because of "unlawful" industrial action: 1. Medicare.

In 1976 the Liberals tried to destroy Medibank which was a precursor to Medicare. The ACTU @unionsaustralia called a general strike to defend it. We would not have Medicare today if it were not for this action.

I understand @ScottMorrisonMP has just said he won't take advice from me on the economy. Here's some anyway:
1. When working people's wages go backwards they cut their spending. This is very bad for the economy.
#ausvotes 2. Or they stop saving and start cutting into their savings to keep up with the cost of living. The cost of essential items is outstripping wages growth.

It is easy to start normalising the ways the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrission Gment has abused the union movement, and overlook the consequences for doing so. Let’s remember: The union royal commission:
- terms of reference go back 20 years
- free reign on all unions
- appointment of a commissioner who was involved in fundraising for the Liberal Party
- dedicated police force
- dedicated hotline

Over the last week we have been an increase in fake Twitter accounts pretending to be associated with unions. An election is coming.
#auspol No doubt the Morrison Government will think it will help their election chances by attacking unions. This is what they have done for six years and now it will intensify.