Workplace campaign will heat up, unions tell rallies: [1 All-round Country Edition]
Ewin Hannan, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 29 June 2006: 2.
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Abstract
Unions said about 300,000 people attended the rallies, which were also held in Sydney, Perth, Hobart, Adelaide and regional centres. Police estimated the combined turnout at about 150,000.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow said "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". "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," Ms Burrow said.
Jane Lee, a Liberal Party voter sacked from her job as a childcare worker nine days after the new laws came into effect, told 30,000 protesters in the Sydney suburb of Blacktown that while she had voted for [John Howard] "I did not vote for him to attack my work rights, or attack the work rights of the other people who work in childcare with me".
UNION leaders vowed to intensify their campaign against workplace changes as more than 150,000 people yesterday rallied acrossthe nation to protest against the federal industrial laws.
Labor leader Kim Beazley told 80,000 people attending the biggest rally, in Melbourne, that they were the nation's true patriots.
Describing the fight over industrial relations as a "battle for ordinary Australian life", Mr Beazley said the protesters were "the people that make this nation what it is. Not John Howard, not his ministry.
"You are the mums and dads of Australia, you are the brothers and sisters of Australia, you are the builders of this nation, you are thetrue Australian patriots."
ACTU secretary Greg Combet told 12,000 protesters in Brisbane that unions would step up their fight against the workplace laws.
"A concerted effort to make sure that everywhere we go, in every workplace, we seek from employers a guarantee that people will be treated fairly," he said.
"And I don't care if the laws make that illegal, we're going to stand up for what we believe in."
Unions said about 300,000 people attended the rallies, which were also held in Sydney, Perth, Hobart, Adelaide and regional centres. Police estimated the combined turnout at about 150,000.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow said "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". "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," Ms Burrow said.
Federal Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews and business groups claimed the rallies were a flop because numbers were significantly down on last year's protests.
Mr Andrews called the protesters "rusted-on" union members, ALP voters and people who had been "bussed in" or succumbed to peer- group pressure.
He denounced Mr Beazley's support for the protesters.
"Where do these people get off? Does it mean somehow that you're not a patriotic Australian because you weren't at the rally. It's an extraordinary comment."
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Hendy accused the unions of running "the mother of all scare campaigns", which was contributing to community unease about the laws.
Brian Boyd, secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, urged workers to maintain the fight against the laws.
"It's important that we maintain this battle for the next year or two to come," he said. "We want John Howard to be rattled, we want him to be on the ropes, not feeling uncomfortable."
Jane Lee, a Liberal Party voter sacked from her job as a childcare worker nine days after the new laws came into effect, told 30,000 protesters in the Sydney suburb of Blacktown that while she had voted for John Howard "I did not vote for him to attack my work rights, or attack the work rights of the other people who work in childcare with me".
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