Country Victorians protest IR laws

Sue Bull, Warrnambool

As the Temperance Hall in Warrnambool began to fill on August 6, it was clear that even in country towns people are worried about the impact of the federal government's amendments to industrial relations laws.

Two hundred people attended the community meeting and march, organised by the South West Trades and Labor Council. The meeting enthusiastically applauded as local unionists, religious leaders and Richard Marles, assistant secretary of the ACTU, addressed them.

The participants were shocked to hear how Peter Reid, a local factory worker, had been given no choice but to sign a below-award Australian Workplace Agreement when he began work at Bushman Tanks several years ago (see article on this page).

Catholic priest Father Laurie O'Toole and former Uniting Church minister Tom Van Doreen also addressed the meeting. Van Doreen said that workers and their families would be worse off if the changes went ahead. He added: "Do you really believe that an employer will employ you if you don t want to sign an AWA?... The government wants to split off the workers and pick them off one by one. It's much easier than facing the whole of a united opposition."

When chairperson Greg Lee, from the National Union of Workers, spoke about public servants striking in the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, the meeting erupted into cheers of solidarity.

Richard Marles outlined the likely impact of the legislation before the crowd, led by children and the elderly to symbolise the people who would be most hurt by the government's new laws, marched through the streets to a barbeque and entertainment at Swan Reserve.

From Green Left Weekly, August 17, 2005.
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