The TWU flag flew high and mighty as up to 100,000 fired-up unionists shut down Melbourne’s CBD today to protest Australia’s fundamentally broken industrial system.
The three-hour rally was the first of the ACTU’s recently-launched “Change the Rules” campaign. The TWU stands with all unions in pushing for a complete overhaul of the nation’s workplace laws.
TWU (VIC/TAS) Branch Secretary John Berger said the massive turn-out underlined how angry working people were at the Turnbull Government’s blatant anti-worker and pro-business bias.
“This is working people standing up and fighting back. Working people know that something is deeply wrong with this country,” John said.
“There is a real mood for change and there is no better possible measure of the collective mood of the people of a nation than what we witnessed today.
“They know things will only get worse under the Coalition Government and just yesterday they failed their latest test in last night’s Budget doing nothing for working people.
“We are still experiencing stagnant wage growth and sustained losses of full-time jobs. The jobs and wage growth promised in previous Turnbull Budgets have failed to materialise, but company profits are at an all-time high.
“People want to smash the rules, they want to take back their penalty rates, they want big business to pay tax, they want to keep the hard-fought for conditions won by unions. They don’t want to join the growing number of working poor.
“They don’t want more insecure work created at the expense of full-time jobs. People want secure work. They don’t want the Coalition handing Big Banks access to their hard-earned super. This is people power.”
