RAID Yr 9 Program

On Wednesday the 2nd of November RAID was all about workers rights and unions, as the year 9’s took the 96 tram down to the Victorian Trades Hall, the oldest standing union building in the world, surviving many things over the years, including an attempted robbery and 19th century shootout! We sat down for a presentation on what we should be getting paid, safety in the workplace, and what our rights are. We learned a couple of things about our work including our payment system. We learned that it’s much better to get paid by-the-book instead of by cash in hand, as one person who was paid cash in hand, when requested medical help, didn’t get it, as the business just denied they worked there because there was no record of it. We also learned how to stand up for our rights, to make sure things like wage theft don’t happen, and that it only takes about 3% of people to stand up and make a change to things like unfair treatment.

We also learned about the trades hall’s history of standing up for workers rights and supporting unions, as it was built over 150 years ago as the “People’s Palace”. Ever since then, it has supported many different union efforts and equality campaigns, including the right for gay marriage and women’s rights. It served as a home for over 100 different unions and has been preserved much of the rich history in it, including the old walls painted with the names of union leaders, bullet marks in the wall, and stairs warped by all the boots travelling up and down it over the years.

Christian M - Year 9