The United Workers Union (UWU) was formed in 2019, as a merger between United Voice and the National Union of Workers. With 150,000 members, the union organizes horticultural laborers, logistics workers, manufacturing workers, entertainment, hospitality and tourism workers, cleaners, and many others who are among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The UWU has a strong commitment to organizing undocumented and seasonal workers. It stands in a tradition of militancy: its predecessor unions having organized a number of successful strikes in processing plants, warehouses, and distribution centers around Australia.

Just five days after Scott Morrison released the details of his second pro-business bailout, the UWU replied with a plan of their own. The union is calling for a jobs guarantee and a universal income fuarantee, set at the minimum wage. Importantly, this demand goes far beyond Morrison’s recently announced “Job Keeper” wage subsidy, which leaves many workers unprotected and many more at risk of unemployment or poverty. They are also demanding a moratorium on rent and mortgage payments and protections for undocumented workers, including the extension of Medicare and a visa amnesty.

Daniel Lopez spoke with Tim Kennedy, the UWU’s National Secretary, to discuss the union’s call to nationalize essential industries and hand workers democratic control over decision-making. As Tim argued, “the system is broken. It’s not good enough to patch it up and sail on through. . . . Unless we use this crisis to reconceptualize the economy, we’ll be here again before we know it.”