Unions move to online

 

It has been amazing to see how quickly unions and members have been able to adapt to online organising.  Many unions have embraced different ways of engaging workers through video conferencing, Facebook live events and town hall phone hook-ups.  This movement to online has also opened up opportunities to engage workers from regional areas that have brought us together now and beyond Covid-19.

 

Valuing workers

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 There has been a new superhero recognised during this Pandemic! That is the everyday worker that is out there putting themselves at risk to keep us all safe.  No longer is the boardroom the focus of appreciation.  The community's growing appreciation for workers has been a great silver lining and long overdue.

 

Events online

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During the Pandemic we have moved quickly to put important events onto an online space.  On the 28 April, it is International Day of Morning (IDM) where we as movement pay our respects to workers that have tragically lost their lives at work.  Traditionally this is held as a memorial service where we invite family members and unionists to come together to remember these workers.  As a result of COVID19, we could not hold this service as we traditionally would, however, we recognised the importance of this event and made all efforts to create the best online service we could.  This online service is available for viewing until the 28 May 2020 at idm2020.com.au. You can also go onto the website and leave your condolences.

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In these difficult times it was fantastic to be able to hold the May Day Toast online.

We hope you enjoyed the May Day Toast and for those who may not have been able to join us on May Day, and for those who want to watch it again you can see it at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTga6FMDsg8&feature=youtu.be

 

At the Toast, we launched a short survey for all workers and supporters to complete - What do we want the world to look like past Covid19? The survey takes literally a minute to complete, can be done on a smart phone and can be done at:

https://mayday2020.getfeedback.com/UnionsNSW

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Please circulate the link to your contacts, family and friends as we work to build our movement post Covid-19, to campaign for better outcomes for working people and their communities.

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Thanks to all who made the Toast possible including the Essential Media team who sponsored and brought us the event live, Crowd Faction who organised the registrations and survey and Campaign Edge for making the worker videos. To each of our speakers: a special thanks to Sharan Burrow, Sally McManus and Thomas Keneally.

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Thanks to our MC Simon Burke for the great job he did, the Brad Bros and our special guest Bill Bragg all the way from England. Finally, thanks to Dan Scaysbrook from the RTBU, the team at Unions NSW and of course the May Day Committee who ensured we had a memorable Toast in difficult times.

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Fighting for a better world

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What we have seen during this Pandemic is highlighting the very inequalities we have been fighting for over the years.  Some examples of this have been the issues around job security, social security support for a living wage, and respect for workers.  We know the effect on the economy has been huge. We also know that the response to this cant be cut to services and austerity measures.  We cannot accept that workers are forced to bear the responsibility for getting the budget back to surplus. Now is the time for us paint a different picture that gives certainty and support where it is needed.  This is the fight we are facing and I am sure that together we are up for the challenge.