Who we are

Preamble

Wages are stagnant. Conditions are eroding. Casualisation is rampant. And too many workers feel isolated, unsure of where to start, and disconnected from the people standing next to them at work.

We are not a union. We are not a political party. We are an independent, rank-and-file focused organisation that believes workers (the people who actually do the work) are capable of understanding their situation, organising collectively, and changing it.

Unions are the most important collective institutions workers have ever built. We exist to complement that work: by building the organising culture, skills, and confidence that make unions stronger from the ground up.

1Organising is the Foundation

Workplace rights matter. But rights on paper mean nothing without the collective power to enforce them. Laws change. Governments come and go. What doesn’t change is that workers who are organised, connected, and willing to act are harder to exploit, easier to defend, and more capable of winning than workers who are not.

The most important thing a worker can learn is not what the law currently says: it’s how to have a conversation with a workmate, how to identify a shared issue, how to build trust across a workplace, and how to turn individual grievances into collective action. Organising is a skill. It can be taught, learned, and practised. Workers don’t need to wait for the right moment or the right official. They can start where they are, with the people around them.

Every worker is a potential organiser. One-on-one conversations are the foundation of collective power, and organising starts with listening. Worker-leaders grow from within workplaces, not from above: our role is to help develop those leaders and support them to act. Campaigns are won by workers who are organised, informed, and ready to move, not by lawyers writing submissions or officials managing expectations.

Workers’ Hub is committed to providing accessible, practical organising education for workers at every level: from someone who has never been in a union to a seasoned delegate who wants to sharpen their skills. We believe in strong workplace delegates and rank and file members properly trained, supported, and protected from victimisation. And we believe in a culture in the labour movement that organises members rather than manages them.

2Union Democracy and the Rank and File

A strong union movement depends on engaged, informed, and active members. When workers feel ownership of their union, when they understand its decisions, participate in its direction, and see themselves reflected in its leadership, unions are more powerful, more resilient, and harder to beat.

The rank-and-file tradition is one of the most valuable in the history of the labour movement. The principle is simple: union power comes from the workplace. Members, not just delegates and officials, should shape the direction of their unions. Delegates and the workers closest to the action are the connective tissue between the membership and the organisation, and they deserve proper training, real support, and genuine trust to lead in their workplaces.

Union democracy is not an inconvenience. It is a source of strength. Members who are genuinely involved in their union’s decisions are more likely to act on them. Transparency in bargaining builds confidence: workers who understand what’s on the table and why are better equipped to fight for it. Workers’ Hub supports unions to develop strong workplace structures, active delegate networks, and genuine member participation from the ground up.

3Industrial Action and Solidarity

The right to strike is the most fundamental right a worker has. It is the mechanism by which everything else (wages, conditions, safety, dignity) is ultimately enforced. Without it, collective bargaining is just collective asking.

Australian law places significant restrictions on industrial action, and we believe workers and unions should be fully equipped to exercise every right available to them: and that the labour movement should continue to advocate for those rights to be expanded.

Solidarity between workers, across workplaces, industries, and sectors, is both a moral principle and a practical strategy. Workers who support each other are harder to pick off. The worker in a distribution centre and the worker on a train and the worker in a hospital are on the same side, and the labour movement is stronger when it acts like it. Workers facing victimisation for organising deserve the active support of the broader movement, not just sympathy.

Workers’ Hub is committed to education and preparation so workers and delegates understand their industrial rights and are ready to use them, to organising in casualised, gig, and precarious industries where union density is lowest and workers are most exposed, and to building the solidarity networks that make collective action possible.

4Worker Solidarity and Class Politics

Workers’ Hub is not neutral on class. Building collective power is not just about individual workplaces or individual disputes: it is about workers understanding where they stand and acting accordingly.

We are internationalists. We believe in solidarity across borders, industries, and sectors. We also believe the labour movement has to reckon honestly with who it has too often left behind. Migrant workers, workers on temporary visas, women, First Nations workers, and workers in insecure employment have historically been treated as peripheral to a movement that should centre them. A labour movement that doesn’t organise all workers is a weaker labour movement, and Workers’ Hub is committed to reaching the workers who are hardest to reach.

Class solidarity is practical, not sentimental. Workers who support each other are harder to exploit. Workers’ Hub does not align with any political party: we support whoever is delivering for workers and hold accountable whoever is not.

Where we’re going

Right now we are working towards running sessions, building a network, and producing resources that workers can pick up and use. We do it without affiliation to any union or party.

Where we’re headed is a national rank-and-file conference, a real space for workers across industries to meet, share what they know, and build connections that last beyond a single dispute. We’re not there yet. But that’s the direction.

If you want to get involved, whether that’s attending a session, becoming a member, writing something, or just showing up, get in touch. There’s plenty to do.