Meeting of the minds

For this week's episode we have an update on Apple workers industrial activity, we meet new Workers Power team member Callen Sorensen Karklis, we will chat about the Housing Summit Protest and we also take you to a rally and strike by National Tertiary Education Union - Qld Division.

Apple strike!

This week we talk all about the historic action being taken by Apple Workers. Bill couldn't join us as he was be on the grass with workers at the Apple Store but he phoned in to give us an update.

We will be heard

This week we talk to Ollie from SEQUR, the South East Queensland Union of Renters, about their upcoming protest against the so-called "Housing Summit" organised by the government to address the housing crisis, a conference where REIQ (the landlord union), the Master Builders Association, and the Premier (landlord), Deputy Premier (landlord) and Housing Minister (landlord) will all come together to discuss “solutions”.

In our second hour (interview starts at 34:43) we talk to Party Representative N6326 about the upcoming gig featuring Worker & Parasite at The Bearded Lady.

Disrupt Land Forces!!

This week we cross live to the Disrupt Land Forces occupation to hear about how people are fighting back against the tools of war being sold in our very own city, we talk to First Nations people Cindy Roberts and Uncle Ned, who were participating in the occupation about why they were there.

Also in this episode, Bill talks to Workers Power regular Katherine Wilkes from the Stop the Cashless Welfare Card campaign about their victory following the recent announcement from parliament.

UQ strike!

This week we talk to NTEU state secretary Michael McNally about the industrial action being taken at UQ and other Queensland universities.

Outro song: Realpoltik by Worker & Parasite

• Links to what we talked about
• Legal challenge halts Santos drilling
• First Nations people fight gas exploration on their country
• QLD government tradies strike for pay increase
• Train workers take strike action
• Nurses strike again
• Toilet paper manufacturers locked out in NZ
• Mass protest in Argentina

Unionise the bookstores

This week we talk to Josh Cullinan, Secretary of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union about the campaign at Readings, where the boss is reneging on a promised wage increase.

Interview starts at 29:58

• Links to what we talked about
• ALS stops taking new clients
• Court hearing to halt Santos drilling
• Screws go on strike in support of killing First Nations people
• USyd workers on strike for the fourth time
• McCain forced to follow their own EBA
• WA public servants protest for a raise
• PFD Brisbane workers win a 13% raise

Figuring it out

This week we talk to Workers Power regular Jayden from Anti-Poverty Network QLD about what we know so far about the new Workforce Australia system and how we can deal with it.

• Links to what we talked about
• NT makes deal with remote community for increased self-determination
• Despite abolition of cashless card, thousands remain on income management
• National childcare strike
• Australia Post workers win wage rise with inflation
• Rally for Brisbane Airport Cleaners this Thursday
• MUA announce industrial action against Svitzer

Young workers fight back!

This week we spoke with Martin from Young Workers Hub about their campaign against the Mantle Group.

Songs of Working Life and Death

Episode from 5 July

his week we talk to Phil Monsour about his upcoming Songs of Working Life fundraiser to support the medevac refugees who have finally been released from detention. We also talked about Phil's trip to Chicago to visit the Labor Notes conference.

In our second hour we talk to Neil from the Brisbane Labour History Association to talk about their upcoming tour of the Dutton Park cemetary and its working class history. It will take place at the cemetary at 2pm on the 14th of August.

Second interview starts at 34:04

Outro song: Let Them Stay by Phil Monsour

Rock, roll, and land rights

Episode from 28 June

This week we talked to Shane Howard, lead vocalist of Goanna, about their music and their politics, along with some live music in the studio. Goanna is celebrating 40 years since the release of Spirit of Place with a tour across the continent.

Outro song: Solid Rock by Goanna

So-called department of housing

Episode from 14 June

This week we talk to Workers Power regular Andrew from the South East Queenland Union of Renters about their upcoming anti-eviction blockade.

The working class origins of Rugby League

Episode from 7 June

This week we talk to Greg from the Brisbane Labour History Association about the working class origins of Rugby League and how class struggle has shaped the sport over the years.

• Links to what we talked about
• Aboriginal Tent Embassy Caretaker counters Uluru Statement
• Rio Tinto sits down with Traditional Owners
• New South Wales public sector workers to strike
• Ipswich city council workers take action
• NSW nurses reject bad offer
• Seattle government building vandalised in response to sweeps of homeless camps

A union member in parliament

Episode from 31 March

This week we talked to Greens MP Stephen Bates about his recent parliamentary victory and what he plans to do in the role.

Interview starts at 39:22

blood on the hands of the legislators - interview with CFMEU organisers

Episode from 10 March.

This week we talk to Jade and Andy from the CFMEU about the aggression faced by their union from the ABCC.

Profit off poverty & A history of the early Brisbane punk scene part 2

Episode from 3 March

This week we talk to Workers Power regular Jayden from the Anti-Poverty Network about the campaign against the cashless welfare card. In the second hour we have a follow up interview with Virginia from the Brisbane Labour History Association about the history of the punk scene in Brisbane, with a focus on the late Chris Bailey of The Saints.

Interviews start at 6:55 and 32:18

Outro song: Econ Sopro by Worker & Parasite

May Day Special!

Episode from 2 May

We bring you on the ground at the Labour Day march this year as we listen to the union chants and talk to unionists and activists about Labour day and the labour movement. I sure hope you like bagpipes.

Outro Song: Solidarity Forever - Phil Monsour

Dare to Struggle Film Festival

Episode from 19 April

On this week's episode Bill and Dan chat with Linn from Dare To Struggle Film Festival. They are also met with a connundrum for this week's Scallywag.

Interview starts at 17:19

How environmentalists and unions fought to protect the reef

Episode from 12 April

This week we talk to Alison from the Brisbane Labour History Association about the fight in the 70s to protect the Great Barrier Reef from mining. This fight was an early example of solidarity between environmental groups and unions, as well as unions taking industrial action to protect the environment.

Interview begins at 7:29

We'll dispossess you back - Revolutionary art with Trent from Last Quokka

Episode from 15 March

This week we talked to Trent from Last Quokka, an anti-fascist punk band "from the most isolated city on the planet" about their music, their politics, and their (at the time) upcoming tour.

Interview starts at 29:11

Outro song: Colony by Last Quokka

International Working Women's Day - Interview with Decrim QLD

Episode from 8 March

This week we talked to Decrim QLD about the struggle to decriminalise sex work in Queensland and the problems facing sex workers in the current system.

Interview starts at 38:45

Women fighting back - the history of the PMG telephonist's union

Episode from 1 March

This week we talk to Jeff Rickertt from the Brisbane Labour History Association. In the leadup to International Working Women's Day we talked about the campaigns of the telephonists' union in the 1970s and 80s. Telephonists were the workers, mostly women, who operated the manual telephone exchanges across Australia for the Postmaster General's Department (PMG), the largest of all Commonwealth departments in its day. In the 1980s the telecommunications division of PMG became Telecom and was then privatised and renamed Telstra.

Until their jobs were destroyed by automation, the telephonists comprised one of the largest groups of women workers in Australia, and in the 1970s and early 1980s they and their union, the Australian Telephone and Phonogram Officers Association, emerged as one of the most militant public service unions in the country. Here in Meanjin they waged some truly amazing battles that really rattled the bosses.

Interview begins at 34:40

• Links to what we talked about
• Floods see Indigenous community evacuated, Koori Mail cut off
• Calls for tougher COVID safety measures after WA prison riot
• NSW Government drops its case in Fair Work Commission after union demands to see ‘risk assessment’
• Unis attempt to pay casuals with gift cards

Why is it so? - A history of the early Brisbane punk scene

This week we talk to Virginia Clarke from the Brisbane Labour History Association. Virginia has had a lifetime of rank-and-file activism in unions and the Labor Party. In the late 70s and early 80s Virginia was also involved in the Brisbane punk scene, which, like the punk explosion the world over, was a movement of working class youth. In Brisbane, the punk scene displayed a particularly sharp edge due to Queensland's cultural and political conservatism and the behaviour of the cops who were notorious for meting out 'special treatment' to punks, First Nations people and anyone who publicly expressed dissent. During this turbulent time Virginia found herself enrolled in a degree at UQ, where she found the middle class culture of higher education and student life alienating. For working class students like Virginia, punk identity became a source of strength and up-yours confidence.

Outro song: Pig City by The Parameters

• Links to what we talked about
• NT Traditional Owners fight water-wasting agriculture project
• First Nations person dies due to racism in the health system
• NSW government shuts down rail system and blames the RTBU
• TWU wins for Amazon Flex workers
• South Korean workers go on strike

Sunbus workers on strike!

This week we chat with Jarrod Abbot from TWU about Sunbus workers out on the grass to force Sunbus back to the negotiating table with a fair deal.

• Links to what we talked about
• NSW police must ask Indigenous status
• Ipswich waste workers win
• QTU prevents extension of work year
• ACTU threatens strike to improve covid measures
• Patrick Terminals threatens to half capacity during supply chain crunch
• Wildcat strike in Turkey
• Beekeepers (and bees) protest
• McDonalds CEO says workers don't need a union

Revolutionary QLD - The history of the Red North

This week we talk to Neil Frost from the Brisbane Labour History Association about the Red North, that rebellious period of North Queensland history which began in the 1920s and culminated in the election of Communist Fred Paterson to the Queensland Parliament as the Member for Bowen. In those years the North was known as a centre of radicalism, with militant strikes, campaigns against fascism, movements of the unemployed and the growth of the Communist Party.

• Links to what we talked about
• Protestors demand child prison Don Dale be shut down
• QTU statement against the proposal to extend school for a week
• UWU statment in support of arrested NagaWorld strikers in Cambodia
• Joint statement calling for release of NagaWorld strikers
• APN meeting - 17th January
• Free the refugees protest - 19th January
• Counterprotest to anti-vaxxers - 22nd January

SEQUR's first campaign and the anti-anti-vaxxers

This week we talk to Iswed from SEQUR and CARF about SEQUR's ongoing campaign against Little Real Estate, who left one of SEQUR's members without a working bathroom for months. We also talk about the work CARF does to counter the anti-vax movement.

• Links to what we talked about
• Vigil held to remember women who died in Melbourne prison
• NT kids education program hailed a success
• Ipswich waste workers win
• Ramset Reid workers win
• Rail workers call out government mismanagement
• McDonalds workers class action over breaks
• NSW teachers strike
• Online activism in support of Kellogg's strike

Save Our Bowlo and the history of the IWW in Queensland

This week we talk to Robyn from Save Our Bowlo about the campaign to stop the destruction of the East Brisbane Bowls Club, a community and arts centre which the council has deemed "underused and unnattractive". We also talk to Jeff from the Brisbane Labour History Association, about the history of the revoltionary union, the IWW, and the union organising it did in Queensland (starts at 30:40).