UNITE slams G20
by UNITE Tuesday November 14, 2006 at 04:10 PM
info@unite.org.au 9328 1555 PO Box 925 North Melbourne VIC 3051

The following article was carried by the AAP and published on the websites of several papers including The Australian and the Herald Sun. So far UNITE has been the only union to come out against the G20 and link the forum to Howard's rotten IR laws.

A UNION has called for fast food and retail workers to join a mass protest in Melbourne this weekend, as the world’s economic leaders meet for the G20 summit.

UNITE, the workers’ union, said today the summit would focus on world bank and oil crisis issues, but it would also have implications for workers employed in major retail and fast food chains.

“This meeting is all about big business leaders discussing corporate globalisation and how best to push their agenda of cuts, privatisation and free trade on working people,” UNITE secretary Anthony Main said.

He said federal Treasurer Peter Costello would be “proudly telling the forum about how successful the Howard Government’s IR laws have been at cutting the wages of young workers”.

Mr Main called on workers to attend the rally at midday (AEDT) on November 18, in central Melbourne, by the State Library.

Organisers expect about 10,000 protesters to march through the city to the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 countries plus the EU will be underway.

Mr Main said the protest would be peaceful and police should “lay off the G20 protesters”.

“Young people and workers have the right to peacefully protest,” he said.

“We expect the police to respect this right and act in a professional manner on the day.”

www.unite.org.au

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