Rights at work

Workers plan long-term campaign to overturn 'destructive' IR laws

Unions plan a long-term campaign to overturn the destructive new WorkChoices IR laws and unseat the Howard Government at the next federal election.

Announcing the campaign in Canberra today (Monday), ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"The Australian people did not vote for an attack on their rights at work at the last election and the Prime Minister is mistaken if he thinks the public will forgive or forget this fundamental change to Australia's workplace relations system. The Howard Government is now ramming through Parliament the most far-reaching and destructive changes to workplace laws in our history.

These destructive new laws will remove the basic rights of working people, cut the take home pay of workers, reduce job security and hurt families. We are here today to show that ordinary working Australians will not stand for it. Our community campaign does not end with the passage of these IR laws. It intensifies.

At the same time that the Liberal and National parties bring in new laws that threaten the job security and living standards of working families, we are beginning a relentless new effort to threaten the job security of Coalition MPs and Senators at the next election.

Key elements of the co-ordinated union campaign include:

1. A campaign fund set up by unions to pay for a national series of television advertisements during 2006 and 2007 on the impact of the new IR laws on working families.

2. A new plan endorsed by the ACTU Executive to strategically direct local press, radio and TV advertisements in key marginal Liberal and National Party seats.

3. An 'online mobilisation' strategy using an email list that already has more than 50,000 subscribers - the majority of whom are supporters from outside the union movement.

4. Thousands of people around the country who have committed to co-ordinate local information and lobbying campaign activities in their electorate for at least the next two years. This aspect of the campaign will target all Coalition MPs and Senators that have voted for the new IR laws with a special focus on key electorates.

Working families are already struggling to keep their heads above water and our campaign will make sure that the Liberal and National parties will be held accountable for the drop in job security and living standards the new laws will cause," said Ms Burrow.