COVID-19 response in Victoria: A union perspective
Date & Time: Tuesday 13 July 2021 at 12:00pm
PLEASE NOTE: ONLINE ZOOM MEETING:
Speaker: Dominic Melling, Lead Organiser, OHS Team, Victorian Trades Hall Council
Topic: COVID-19 response in Victoria: A union perspective
The COVID-19 crisis brought some major challenges to unions affiliated with the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC), their members and workers. These challenges, along with lessons learned and solutions, will be discussed by Dominic Melling, Lead Organiser of the OHS Team at the VTHC in a zoom presentation at midday on Tuesday, 13 July.
Dominic’s talk will cover essential workers who reported to their usual workplaces throughout the lockdowns as well as people working from home. He will review the structural problems that facilitated the spread of COVID-19 and the Union’s role in advising Health and Safety Representatives and members. Using case studies from high risk industries, he will discuss what happened when OHS structures and procedures failed and what lessons can be learned from these failures.
The presentation will outline VTHC initiatives to support HSRs and workers, and Unions’ lobbying efforts that led to changes in Government policy designed to protect workers and the community and to eliminate the spread of COVID-19.
About the speaker:
Dominic Melling has been the Lead Organiser of the OHS Team at the Victorian Trades Hall Council since January 2020. In this role he works with affiliated unions in their collective efforts to campaign for safer workplaces and better conditions for workers. Recent examples of campaigns include the introduction of industrial manslaughter as an offence; exposure standards to crystalline silica and the introduction of psychological health regulation.
Dominic also assists WorkSafe Victoria by liaising with relevant VTHC affiliates in relation to health and safety and workers’ compensation matters.
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Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 12 July 2021. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the July Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
