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Low pay and long hours put cruise worker protections in focus
Top stories
New head of Australian trade union movement named after Sally McManus steps down [The Guardian] 10-08-2026
Low pay and long hours put cruise worker protections in focus [People Matters] 10-08-2026
Unionised workers down tools at BHP's Port Hedland operations a second time [ABC] 09-08-2026
Western Australia More workers join strike at BHP’s Port Hedland iron ore operations [Investing.com] 09-08-2026
Western Australia What does 48hrs of strike action mean for the world's largest bulk export port? [ABC] 08-08-2026
Other news
This month in labour history
1-08-1990 Founding of the United Firefighters Union of Australia. [more]
2-08-1917 Members of engineering and rail unions across Sydney begin to strike against the time card system, with more workers taking unofficial action the next day. [more]
9-08-1917 The number of workers on strike across Sydney increases to 45,000 when miners and longeshoremen join the action. [more]
12-08-1917 The Australian government informs the people, through the Sunday papers, that "The enemies of Britain and her Allies have succeeded in plunging Australia into a general strike." [more]
14-08-1917 Seamen's Union Vice President W. Daly is arrested and charged with conspiracy to instigate an illegal strike. [more]
16-08-1890 Marine officers walk off their ships in strike action, soon followed by their crews. [more]
17-08-1861 Coal miners in NSW refuse 20% wage cut & walk out; locked out until October. [more]
22-08-1966 200 aboriginal workers walk off the job in Wave Hill to back their demand for pay equality with white workers. The strike runs for 9 years and expands to include a demand for the return of stolen land. [more]
23-08-1966 Two hundred Gurindji workers walk off their cattle station at Wave Hill, a strike that will last almost a decade and lead to the passage of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. [more]
24-08-1917 The government declares that the Strike Committee in Sydney shall be considered an illegal organisation. [more]
25-08-1989 All 1640 domestic airline pilots, organized by the AFAP, resign to back their pay claim. TWU members refuse to refuel RAAF planes being used to break the pilots. [more]
26-08-1894 Striking shearers burn and destroy the steamship 'Rodney', which had been used to transport scabs on the Darling River. [more]
30-08-1917 First labour martyr Merv Flanagan shot and killed in Sydney during General Strike for yelling 'scab'. His murderer Reginald Wearne ( whose brother was a consevative MP) was never convicted. [more]
31-08-1890 Up to 100,000 workers gather in Melbourne to support the sheep shearers' strike [more]