Collective action for safe and healthy work
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 131 No 1, 20 February 2026, page no 12.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Healthy Work Conference in Adelaide from 20-21 November brought together unionists and allies in health and safety to build the union movement’s capacity to win safer and healthier work. The theme for 2025 was From Risk to Rights: Collective Action for Safe and Healthy Work.
The QTU continues to focus on secure, safe, healthy and properly resourced workplaces, holding the employer to account, and addressing occupational violence and aggression. The theme of the conference resonated with these priorities.
Plenaries
Organising for Mentally Healthy Work: Professor Maureen Dollard (University of South Australia) and the panel discussed the hidden cost of retail work and the data behind mentally unsafe workplaces. Professor Dollard provided ideas about the need for productivity/economic arguments that get management to pay attention to worker psychological health and wellbeing.
Racism as a WHS hazard: This session, which was co-presented by Giridharan (Giri) Sivaraman (Race Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission) and the First Nations Workers Alliance, along with the ACTU’s Rachel Bos, explored how racism impacts on workplace safety and wellbeing.
Workers’ compensation: Chris Picton MP (South Australian Minister for Health and Wellbeing) commended the union movement for eliminating unsafe workplaces and the prevention of illnesses. Mr Picton said: “When workers can thrive in safe workplaces, families and communities can thrive.”
Deadly dust: eliminating dust diseases: Jodie Deakes (CEO of the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency) presented The Shift from Strategy to Reality: a national program driving action for asbestos and silica safety.
Tales from the United States: Dr Robert Harrison (MD, MPH, University of California, San Franciso) talked about the impact of dust and heat on fire fighters and workers in agriculture.
Workshops
Beyond bias – building safer, fairer workplaces: Explored strategies for creating safe workplaces for women in trades, addressing gender bias as a safety hazard, and understanding how workplace cultures and bystander practices impact psychosocial safety.
Safety and skills: James Gilbert (Work, Health and Safety Officer at the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union) discussed workgroup negotiation as the first step to support health and safety representatives (HSRs).
Occupational violence and aggression − key issues and union responses: Representatives from branches of the AEU (including Paige Bousen – pictured) addressed occupational violence and aggression in education.
Welding and health monitoring: An overview of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union's campaign on risks associated with welding processes and an examination of good practice in health monitoring.
Preventing sexual harassment: Looked at the Respect@Work changes and the “Safe to Speak Up” initiative and explored how enterprise bargaining can embed concrete sexual harassment controls in Australian universities.
Psychological health − a practical workshop: Using the Psychosocial Hazard Work Redesign Tool (PHReD-T), participants gained practical experience of using case studies to build confidence in improving work design. They also unpacked some practical strategies re psychological health.
Law reform: Collective advocacy for workers’ compensation rights, recent law reforms, and how they are being used to achieve safer workplaces.
Air quality − why monitoring matters: Preventing occupational lung diseases and emerging trends in dust disease, with legal and scientific perspectives.
National meeting of occupational health and safety officers
Prior to the conference, a national meeting of officers from AEU branches and associated bodies whose work includes occupational health and safety-related organising, advocacy, and research was held at the AEU South Australian Branch.
The role of the QTU
It is a fundamental principle of the union movement in Australia that workers have a right to safe and healthy working lives. Evidence has consistently shown that unionised workplaces tend to have stronger safety cultures and better health outcomes for workers.
The QTU plays a critical role in addressing both traditional and emerging safety risks. These include physical hazards, psychosocial hazards, escalating workloads, increasing incidents of occupational violence and aggression, impacts of the teacher shortage and under resourcing of schools. The QTU continues to campaign for safer workplaces for all our members.
The QTU delegation at the conference was Brendan Crotty, Paige Bousen, Kate Kermode, Jodie McFadden, Ben Vercoe, Mel de Waard, and Zeb Sugden.