Workers' Protests Across Australia Send Message to Howard Govt On IR Laws : Melbourne Indymedia

Workers' Protests Across Australia Send Message to Howard Govt On IR Laws
ACTU Media Release 28 June 2006

Widespread community concern over cuts to take-home pay and the loss of basic employment conditions has underpinned strong turnouts at protests across Australia today says the ACTU.

150,000 protesters took over the centre of Melbourne today

Around 300,000 people have attended rallies and other events across Australia today, sending a strong message to the Howard Government that the Australian public opposes the new IR laws.

Commenting on the rallies today, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"The Government's own Office of the Employment Advocate has admitted that every new AWA individual contract it has registered since the Government's new IR laws came into affect have removed at least one award condition and that 64% of AWAs have removed workers' right to leave loading; 63% cut penalty rates and overtime; 52% cut shift loadings; 40% stripped away public holidays; and 16% removed ALL protected award conditions.

Widespread concern about cuts to workers' take-home pay and the loss of entitlements such as penalty rates, overtime payments and other basic entitlements has underpinned the large turnouts at the rallies today.

The rallies show a groundswell of opposition to the new IR laws and are a clear signal to the Howard Government that it faces a tough fight at the next election over its IR laws," said Ms Burrow.

UNION ESTIMATES OF RALLY NUMBERS

• The largest turnout was in Melbourne, with around 150,000 people rallying in the centre of the city at the corner of Bourke and Swanston Sts.

• 40,000 people attended the main NSW rally in the outer suburb of Blacktown - almost double the number organisers expected.

• Around 25,000 turned out in Brisbane to hear major addresses from QLD IR Minister Tom Barton, ACTU Secretary Greg Combet and ALP Treasury Spokesperson Wayne Swan.

• An estimated 10,000 attended rallies in Adelaide throughout the morning, targeting the electorate offices of a number of Coalition MPs. South Australian workers also attended a rally in Whyalla today.

• In Launceston Tasmania, around 2,000 people rallied including rescued Beaconsfield miner Brant Webb. A further protest is planned for Hobart on Saturday 1 July on Parliament House lawns.

• There was a strong turnout in Perth with around 20,000 people marching and around 500 attending a protest in Darwin.

Unions estimate a further fifty to sixty thousand people also attended rallies in regional centres across Australia today:

• In Queensland 7,000 attended a rally on the Gold Coast and protests were also held in Gladstone, Rockhampton, and Townsville.

• In NSW, 6000 attended a rally in Newcastle and 7000 in Wollongong. There were also protests in Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Coffs Harbour, Goulburn, Lismore, Nowra, Tweed Heads, Tamworth, Queanbeyan and Wagga Wagga.

• Workers also rallied in regional Victoria today with protests in Ballarat, Geelong, Hamilton, Portland, Warrnambool and Wodonga/Albury.

Howard accuses unions of secret plot
Nick O'Malley, Workplace Reporter
June 28, 2006

THE Federal Government has accused unions of having a secret plan to take over the Government after comments made by the ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, which he says were a joke.

According to the Prime Minister, Mr Combet revealed the plot in unguarded comments made at a South Australian rally held on Monday.

"I recall we used to run the country and it would not be a bad thing if we did again," Mr Combet was reported as telling his audience of hundreds of union delegates.

So seriously did Mr Howard take the threat that he was moved to raise it from Indonesia, where he is at present trying to resuscitate one of the nation's most significant foreign relationships.

"Mr Combet in this morning's press has blown the cover, given it away," said Mr Howard in an interview with Sky TV.

"He said, very boldly, there used to be a day, a time, when the unions ran Australia and it wouldn't be a bad idea if that came back. Now this reveals in one sentence what this campaign is all about.

"It's not about the welfare of unionists, it's not about getting the unemployed back into work, it's not about boosting their real wages, it's about union power."

The Minister for Workplace Relations, Kevin Andrews, also joined the fray, releasing a statement along similar lines before hosting a press conference to hammer home the point.

For his part, Mr Combet claimed the comment had been taken out of context. He says he was just highlighting his point that the Government has run out of arguments against the unions and had instead resorted to 1950s-style sloganeering. He responded in kind. "It was meant as a joke. There was a lot of laughter, it was taken a joke," he told the Herald yesterday.

"If this is the best they can do then they are getting desperate," Mr Combet said.

He said the unions had not forced the hand of the Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, in deciding to scrap the individual contracts that the unions had been campaigning against. Rather, Mr Beazley had come to his own position.

Joke or not, by 4pm yesterday Mr Combet had decided to hold a press conference of his own and release a statement in an effort to hose down the Government's claims.

Today hundreds of thousands of workers across the country are expected to take to the streets in protest against the new industrial laws.

While state governments are allowing workers to attend rallies, some companies, including Australia Post and the Lindores construction group, have formally warned staff that they will be breaking the law if they do not show up for work.

Close to 150 000 people attended the mass demonstration in Melbourne as part of the June 28 national day of protest against Howard’s IR laws. Large contingents of workers from both blue and whiter collar unions were in attendance. Many families and young people also attended due to the fact that it was school holidays in Victoria.

The mood of the demonstration was notably more sombre than the previous mass protests of June and November last year. The turn out was also somewhat smaller especially compared to the demonstration of last November. Industrial Relations Minister Kevin Andrews jumped on this point saying that the smaller than expected turn-out was a disappointment to the unions and reflected their irrelevance to most ordinary Australians.

Whilst this is obviously not the case, 150 000 people on the streets in Melbourne and 300 000 nationally is nothing to be scoffed at, but the reasons as to why the protests were smaller needs to be raised in the movement. Discussions with workers on the march revealed that many workers were somewhat disillusioned with the current campaign strategy of Trades Hall and the ACTU. Trades Hall secretary Brian Boyd said three more rallies were scheduled for the next 18 months, with up to five possible before the next federal election.

Many workers are asking “will continued protests be enough to defeat the laws?” Many more seem to have already concluded that this will not be enough and have decided to stay at work. Mass demonstrations are a key part of the campaign but these alone every six months linked to a marginal seats campaign to re-elect the ALP is by no means enough.

Kim Beazley and less so Steve Bracks received a reasonable response from the crowd when they spoke from the main platform in Bourke Street.
This was mostly due Beazley’s recent announcement to scrap individual contracts should the ALP win the next federal election. Beazley’s back flip on individual contracts should be welcomed and has without a doubt increased support for the ALP in the short term. But still many workers are not comfortable with the idea that the ALP will save us. Memories of the previous Labor federal government and the fact the ALP state governments continue to attack workers leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many trade unionists.

This was highlighted by the contingent of fire fighters who were less than impressed with Bracks’ hypocritical speech. Bracks said he was there to speak up for the rights of Victorian families, declaring that penalty rates, annual leave and overtime entitlements were all under threat. At the same time the state government is in dispute with the fire fighters over pay parity for country and metropolitan workers.

By far the best response on the day was for the rank and file speakers who shared their horror stories about the IR laws in effect. While Labor has received a short term boost in support, amongst active trade unionists and more generally throughout the working class, support for a principled left opposition to the ALP is still growing.

The demonstration on June 28 was a fantastic show of workers strength, even the bosses’ organisation VECCI said the rally cost $30 million in lost trade and absenteeism. But the movement now needs to seriously discuss how to best take this campaign forward. If the campaign is not escalated workers will quickly become demoralised and withdraw from activity. To succeed in defeating Howard’s IR laws the good work done so far on the propaganda front and the mass demonstrations need to be linked to a serious campaign of industrial action.

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