ACTU Secretary Greg Combet explains the next step in the campaign.

IR fight moves to the election box

By Kerri Carr

Your rights at work are not just worth fighting for, they are worth voting for, ACTU Secretary Greg Combet told the Day of Union and Community Action Sky Channel broadcast on November 30.

The ACTU estimates 279,500 people around Australia watched the broadcast, live from the MCG, at more than 300 hundred venues across Australia. About 116,000 watched across NSW, including 40,000 in the Sydney CBD.

"Let's be very clear about the real implication of the High Court decision [which upheld that the Federal Government had the authority to construct the industrial relations laws as it has]. It has confirmed that the only way to get rid of John Howard's industrial relations laws is to vote against the Government," Mr Combet said.

"John Howard is not prepared to repeal the laws, so we must elect a Government that will."

Mr Combet said Labor, the Democrats and the Greens had given a commitment to get rid of the industrial relations (IR) laws.

"The IR laws are taking away important rights and have set us on the path to United States style inequality and disadvantage," Mr Combet said.

"That is what we are fighting against, but equally important is what we are fighting for, and how all of you can help to achieve our goal.

"Our goal is not just to repeal these unfair industrial relations laws, but to replace them with decent rights for working people: a decent safety net of minimum pay and employment conditions, a right for people to collectively bargain.

"If a majority of workers want to collectively bargain with their employer, we believe that the law should require the employer to negotiate.

"This is a simple democratic principle that should be respected in Australian workplaces."

"We believe that working people should be treated with respect and with dignity," Mr Combet said.

"We believe in fairness and justice throughout our society. We believe in democratic principle and human rights.

"Democratic countries do not hold secret interrogations of workers because they held a workplace meeting. Real democracies uphold human rights and encourage tolerance and respect

. "Decent societies do not leave people behind, they reach out and lend a hand where it is needed and these values are the foundation of our campaign.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said the Howard Government had "turned its back on working people and we owe them no loyalty".

"These are disgraceful [industrial relations] laws," Ms Burrow said.

"They have no place in a democratic society. They are unbalanced, extreme and a threat to Australian values."

She said determination had strengthened.

"We will not allow the rights, the wages and the working conditions that have been won over the last 100 years to be swept away," she said.

"We have a government which has handed the power to employers to intimidate workers and deny them their rights," Ms Burrow said.

"Look around you. We have not been intimidated."

Mr Combet said it was not just the industrial relations laws that needed to be changed.

"The Howard Government has been divisive and deceitful," he said.

"It took the country to war in Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. The Government lied about refugees throwing their children overboard. It is shameless about its incompetence over the bribes paid to Saddam Hussein. It has put the interests of big business above those of working families.

"John Howard knows that these IR laws are unpopular," Mr Combet said.

"He will try to con people by making some cosmetic changes. Please do not be fooled, we have seen these tactics too many times. There have been too many lies, too much deceit.

"We need to restore some integrity and decency to national politics.

"We must focus on the real challenges confronting us as a society.

"We need to plan for the jobs and the economy of the future, do our best to protect living standards and job security, not just give up and let jobs go offshore.

"We need long-term thinking, not short-term opportunism."

Mr Combet said it was "undeniable" that the longer the WorkChoices laws were in place, the more people would be directly affected.

Those attending the outdoor venues in the Sydney CBD, Tumbalong Park and Belmore Park, then marched along George Street to a rally in Bridge Street.

Iemma declares support for collective bargaining

The challenge for the Iemma Government

TAFE demands on state politicians

Shame file

Federal MPs hear about wasteful duplication

Will Pemulwuy be erased again?

ABC under attack over ATCs and IR

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December 2006 contents