Introduction
Stick Together is Australia’s only national radio show dedicated to union and workplace justice issues. In addition to a weekly wrap of union news and updates on current campaigns, the team provide in-depth stories and interviews about the history of union based organising. The program is recorded at 3CR, and broadcast on community radio stations around the country via the Community Radio Network. Below are a selection of episodes that explore history and case studies regarding effective organising, creative activism and more.
Listen to recent programs and check out many more Stick Together episodes.
Episodes
RAFFWU protest 2022_ Courtesy of Stick Together
Young Workers Fight for Fair
There is a perception that young workers know little about fighting for a better working future through collective action. Annie McLoughlin puts pay to this belief by talking to three young activists about their experiences of organising. These include Mayse, an organiser for the newest Union on the block the Games Workers Union, Lucas, an organiser for RAFFWU the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, and Ben and Bailey from the Art Workers Collective.
Our Members Be Unlimited
James Brennan interviews Sam Wallman about ‘Our Members Be Unlimited’, a comic that explores the union movement in Australia from the past to current struggles via beautiful drawings.
The Gurindji Walk Off
In this episode Tanya McConvell speaks about her stay in the 1970s amongst the people responsible for the Wave Hill Walk-off and how the Gurindji people, with support from unions and community members around Australia, won land rights.
The Legacy of the Red Ribbon Rebellion
In August 1853 10 000 gold diggers rallied in Bendigo, Victoria against taxation without political representation. This came after a 30 metre long petition against a hated licence fee was rejected by then Governor La Trobe. Rebecca Maes interviews Jim Evans from the Bendigo Historical Society about the annual re-enactment of the Red Ribbon Rebellion and its significance. We then hear a conversation with Luke Martin and Dave Fox from Bendigo Trades Hall Council about the legacy of the rebellion in the labour movement and democracy in Australia.
High Voltage Women
Utilities company Seattle City Light hired 10 women for the first time in the 1970s and subsequently fired them because of rampant sexism. It ended in a 7 ½ year legal battle for reinstatement of the women workers. This episode features a talk by Ellie Belew, author of High Voltage Women, in which she discusses the role of feminists in Seattle’s vibrant activist and labor movements and exposes the sorry record of city politicians who acted as roadblocks to social progress.
First Nations Struggle, Then And Now
This episode looks at the culture war surrounding Invasion Day, reflects on the First Nations struggle in 2020, and examines two massive strikes of Indigenous workers during the 20th century.
Retail Win at Better Read Than Dead
Workers at Better Read Than Dead, a bookshop in Newtown Sydney had their first Enterprise Bargaining Agreement ratified at the Fair Work Commission in July 2022. This ground-breaking agreement had ramifications for other retail workers in Australia. This episode includes recollections from one member of RAFFWU about how they forced the company to negotiate and agree to job security and living wages.
Organising to Protect Each Other
This episode includes a talk from Adam, an organiser with the Housing Defence Coalition in Sydney about a successful eviction defense campaign in 2020.