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National day of action against anti-worker reforms in Australia
5 July 2006
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| Melbourne rally against Australian labour reforms | |
Trade unionists were among some 300,000 protestors who took part in rallies across Australia last Wednesday to express their anger over the Howard government’s union-bashing reforms.
Trade unionists - including members of ITF-affiliated unions the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers, Australian Services Union, Maritime Union of Australia, Rail Tram and Bus Union, Transport Workers’ Union of Australia, and others - turned out in droves to support the national day of action on 28 June. Workers made their protest across the country - from Adelaide to Brisbane, from Perth to Sydney - but the biggest rally took place in Melbourne, where an estimated 150,000 people joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions event.
The demonstrators were protesting against the Howard government’s new industrial relations reforms, which impose heavy restrictions on workers’ rights to union representation and give employers powers to determine wages and conditions unilaterally.
Sharan Burrow, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions and of the International Confederation of Trade Unions, pointed to the government’s own figures which show that the individual employment contracts that are being promoted by Howard are stripping away working conditions and cutting incomes.
Building on previous legislation, which has already been criticised by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the new legislation undermines workers even further: new “independent contractor" laws, for example, are designed to push down contractors’ and employees’ wages.
David Cockroft, ITF General Secretary, commented: “These laws represent a serious attack on workers’ rights. It is deeply disturbing that the government is flagrantly flouting the views of the ILO by implementing these draconian measures. But workers and their unions will not take this lying down - the success of the national day of action shows that they will oppose these laws all the way.”
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