APHEDA

Your solidarity can make a difference

May 8, 2025 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

As nurses and midwives, we know the value of working together. As unionists, we know that solidarity is our power – whether it’s solidarity in the workplace, with other nurses and midwives across the state, or with our most marginalised communities around the world.

Across the globe, we’re currently seeing authoritarian governments attack workers’ rights. Corporate greed has infected our healthcare systems, which has turned health into businesses that put profits ahead of patients. Human rights abuses are rife – and working people are bearing the brunt of the abuse. It’s a dire situation – but we can help affect change.

Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA is the Australian union movement’s global justic arm. Together with unionists across the country, they stand together with overseas workers and communities to fight for human rights and societal change.

Founded by Australian nurse Helen McCue, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has grown to become a leading voice in the fight for human rights around the world. Over the past few years, they have helped protect workers right in South Africa, fought to eliminate asbestos-related diseases in Southeast Asia, and delivered aid to communities struck by conflict in the Middle East.

It’s a massive job – but the union movement is up to the task.

I’m proud to be a member of Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA – and I invite you to join me. Membership starts at just $20 a month, and it’s one of the most powerful ways to take action for global justice.

There’s strength in numbers. Together with our fellow unionists from around the world, we can fight back against authoritarianism and corporate greed and deliver a better future for all workers around the work.

Shaye Candish is the General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association.

You can join Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA here.

UNION WIN: Federal government to support IP waiver for COVID vaccines

September 9, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

After months of campaigning from union and advocacy organisations – including the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association – Federal Trade Minister Dan Tehan has finally announced that the federal government will support an international push to waive intellectual property (IP) protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

The federal government has finally supported a push for the waiver, which has been led by third world countries such as India and China, who have struggled to provide adequate vaccines to their populations due to the costs associated with IP protections.

The Biden administration in the United States had previously indicated its support for the waiver, however the Australian government had been non-committal on the topic until today.

It is hoped that the IP waivers will assist with the international COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Minister Tehan said that his government would “do everything [they] can to expand the production of vaccines globally because we need everyone across the globe to get access to a vaccine, ultimately, to be able to be safe”.

Michael Whaites, Manager of Public Health Organising at the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association has welcomed the government’s announcement.

“Whilst rich countries are contemplating their 3rd dose, many healthcare workers in developing nations have a long wait for their first. The current approach to mass distribution is inadequate so we must see the release of the patent,” Whaites said.

“Our global safety must come before the profits of a small number of pharmaceutical companies. We welcome the Trade Minister’s statements that will see Australia standing up for the human right to healthcare which in this case means equitable access to safe and effective vaccines as soon as possible.

“None of us are safe until we are all safe”.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association wishes to thank our campaign partners Public Services International, Australian Council of Trade Unions, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, and the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network for their contributions to this win.

Work Visas ‘fuel exploitation’

January 31, 2018 by Rayan Calimlim

Australian government policy is creating a workforce divided by immigration status, says the union movement’s overseas aid arm.

Temporary migration schemes are fostering a highly exploitative “second tier” labour system in Australia, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA has warned.

In a submission to a federal government foreign policy review, the union movement’s overseas aid arm argued for
reform of “exploitative” immigration visa categories.

“Current policies set Australia on a trajectory of entrenched division according to immigration status, preventing migrant workers from exercising basic rights that other workers can access,” it said.

“We risk returning to a society characterised by exploitation of migrant workers, not universal labour rights.”

At any one time, more than one million non-residents are in Australia on visas that provide temporary work rights.

They include foreign students, “skilled” migrants on 457 visas, working holidaymakers, New Zealanders and refugees on temporary protection visas.

The growing use of such workers represents a big change from the permanent settler model that characterised Australian migration in the 20th century.

In recent years, media and union investigations have uncovered many examples of gross exploitation of temporary workers.

A 2013 Fairfax Media report revealed hundreds of foreign workers and students were being forced into “debt bondage” after paying up to $40,000 for skilled worker visas.

Some of them signed contracts stating they would be sacked if they engaged in “trade union activities”.

Labour rights of all workers undermined

APHEDA said the employment of immigrants on a variety of temporary visas undermines the labour rights of all workers in Australia.

“Pro-business gains at the expense of workers in Australia have coincided with expansion of temporary labour migration schemes,” it said.

“Restrictions on the full exercise of labour rights are present across a number of visa categories, including international student, 416 (seasonal worker), 417 (working holiday) and 457 (skilled temporary work) visas.

“Temporary migration schemes are structured in a manner that often forces many migrant workers
into precarious and unfair employ-ment contracts.

“This includes ‘bonded’ arrange-ments where visas are dependent on the goodwill of an employer and workers face restrictions and barriers in changing employers.

“Working for as little as $6 per hour, temporary migrants are also pushed into the informal economy where real rates of pay are dramatically below legal minimum rates.”

APHEDA said exploitation through cash-in-hand work is “alarmingly common” in hospitality, retail, cleaning, agriculture and construction.

“The Australian Taxation Office has identified the informal economy as a major tax integrity risk, and
has estimated it to account for between $2 and $3 billion in lost tax revenue annually.”

APHEDA said it supports a “well-designed labour mobility program” that would “enable decent work and development for communities, especially for our Pacific neighbours who are some of the most aid-dependent nations in the world”.

Fewer unionists = more inequality

A decline in the level of union membership correlates strongly with increased income inequality, according to recent research by the International Monetary Fund, cited in the APHEDA submission.

“Trade unions help their members achieve living wages and in this way, improve their living standards, end poverty and decrease inequality,” APHEDA said.

“One way for workers in developing countries to win their fair share of global economic growth and enable their families to lead lives of dignity, free from want, is to strengthen their ability to organise and bargain collectively.”

APHEDA called on the government to recognise trade union development in its official overseas aid program.

“Trade unions are needed to defend and enhance labour rights, especially in a globalised world economy where child labour, bonded labour, forced or slave labour, discrimination on race or gender, health and safety conditions in workplaces and poverty through low wages remain commonplace.”