In this episode of Stick Together we chat with Tash Wark, Secretary of the ASU Vic/Tas Branch about the multi-council campaign they are running in metropolitan Melbourne. We also hear a statement given by Dave Ball in regional town Geelong on the war in Iran. Geelong is quickly becoming one of Australia's biggest defence industry towns with the Geelong Defence Alliance and Geelong on the Rise projects.   

The term critical minerals seems to be everywhere at the moment. Whether in discussions of Trump’s aspirations to annex greenland or the Albanese government's attempts to avoid US tariffs by bolstering US access to Australia’s Lithium, cobalt and other rare earths and critical minerals - it is becoming increasingly obvious that securing access to these natural resources is a top priority of the Trump administration. In today's show we will be looking at the significance of Critical Mineral security in American foreign policy and in particular the US exploitation of the Congo as a source of critical minerals. Speakers:Maurice Carney, co-founder and executive director of the Friends of the Congo;Frédéric Mousseau, Policy Director at the Oakland Institute and co-author of Shafted: The Scramble for Critical Minerals in the DRC; Mira Rubio, coordinator of the California Trade Justice Coalition and director of CRITICAL MINERALS: Creating a Just & Sustainable Clean Energy Transition. 

Like me you might have been blown away by the announcement that the Fair Work Commission was abolishing junior rates of pay in the retail, fast food and pharmacies industries. It was plastered on headlines across legacy media, ACTU and Labor Party sources. But of course the headline isn't the whole story. We spoke to Josh Cullinan from the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union RAFFWU, the only voice at the Commission calling for the scrapping of the junior rate of pay about how the system continues to be rigged against young workers.

Stick Together is a half-hour weekly show about workers rights and current affairs. Stick Together features interviews with workers, unionists, community campaigners and academics from right across Australia. In this week's episode we bring you union news from around the country and speak to early education delegate and United workers union members first delegate Nicki about the upcoming union election.

In this episode we begin the episode with a great chat with Dr Adrian Marshall from the Grassy Plains Network. We hear the shocking stat 0.56% of Native Grasslands left in Victoria, and that's likely an OVER ESTIMATE! Learn about one of the major contributing factors to their decline which is agencies and corporations wrecking havoc on these sites even when they are responsible for their care and how there is a workforce waiting in things ready to help... they just need jobs.grassyplains.net.au/

Tuesday 24th of March saw the biggest 24 hour stoppage by educational staff in Victorian public schools in history. Represented by the AEU, 98% of members voted yes to the stoppage. The AEU is an industry based union and the members include Education Support Staff, Teachers and Principals. 40,000 educators and their allies took to the streets and raised their voices for a better deal.

This episode examines how war and militarism shape workers’ lives and labour struggles: DP World’s AI automation push threatens over 1,000 skilled port jobs while shifting control of critical supply‑chain infrastructure offshore; Australia’s fuel insecurity—hollowed refineries and a depleted tanker fleet—exposes us to global choke points and the fallout of foreign military campaigns; Victoria’s education strike highlights domestic austerity and the costs borne by public services. Feature: a translated excerpt from USB’s webinar “War on Women: The Price of Rearmament,” linking rearmament, gendered harms and union resistance.

On this week's episode of stick together host James brings you Union news from across the country. And we chat with Jewish Australian activist James Crafti who recently travelled to Palestine to connect with activists there. 

In an attempt to undermine the collective amnesia of the working class of it's own history first up we hear from Sean Scalmer here at the launch of his book A Fair Day's Work: The Quest to Win Back Time and follow up with voices of working women at the Melbourne International Working Women's Day Rally here this year. 

In this episode of Stick Together, listen to interviews and speeches from Neighbourhood Houses Victoria's recent rally to raise much needed funds for staff and operations. Following that report learn about the Geelong and Melbourne Strategic assessments. Are they a sign of change in industries working in green spaces or more the same green washing?Neighbourhood Houses Victoria - https://www.nhvic.org.au/post/keep-our-doors-open-campaignGreen Left Article - https://www.greenleft.org.au/2025/1422/news/community-pushes-back-geelong-council-wages-war-first-nations-communitiesGeelong Defence Alliance - https://geelonganarchists.org/2023/05/04/the-geelong-defence-alliance-local-government-and-the-war-industry/Melbourne Strategic Assessment Review - www.researchgate.net/publication/369932255_Evaluating_the_Melbourne_Strategic_Assessment-Elegant_on_process_currently_failing_on_implementation

In this weeks episode we hear the translations of the statements that were given by members of the USB and CALP among others at the national assembly that was held on the 23rd of January in Genova in support of the then upcoming internationa strike against the drive to war that happened on the 6th of Febuary and the ongoing campaign for the working class to oppose capitalist war.