Judi Rosi and Kevin O'Gorman gather a signature for the IR petition from Tony Hill.

Unionists educate workers on IR threat

Unionists at the combined TAFE and schools facility, Centre for Learning and Innovation, at Strathfield, have an information stall about proposed changes to federal industrial relations law.

Federation members from TAFE Teachers Association and the Officers, Consultants and Advisers Association (OCAA), with Public Service Association members, have a stall set up in the cafeteria each lunchtime.

People are invited to sign the ACTU's petition that states (in part): "We oppose the Howard Government's plans to remove employment conditions from awards; change the way minimum wages are set to make them lower; use individual contracts to undercut existing rights and conditions; keep unions out of workplaces and reduce workers' negotiating and bargaining rights;.abolish redundancy pay and protection from unfair dismissals for the three million people who work in small businesses; reduce the powers of the independent Industrial Relations Commission to settle disputes and set fair minimum standards at work; and take away rights at work with laws that unilaterally override and weaken state industrial relations systems, awards and agreements."

More than 400 signatures have already been gathered.

For further information

June 2005 contents