Thousands of workers across the country rallied on April 28, including more that 15,000 in Melbourne. The rallies protested the Rudd government's maintenance of the anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), which was established by the previous government of John Howard.
Gathering outside Victorian Trades Hall, workers observed one minute's silence to mark Workers' Memorial Day, in honour of those killed on the job.
The strong attendance, mainly from construction workers, was in spite of threats by big companies to sue workers and their unions for attending the rally and taking "illegal" industrial action.
Addressing the rally, Dave Noonan, national secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU), said: "The Master Builders Association has advocated and supported laws which take away the most fundamental rights of construction workers, including the right to take action for a safe workplace.
"These people sit in their offices, supported by politicians who don't risk their lives at work, and they promote laws which mean that if we stop work over a safety issue, we can be prosecuted, dragged in front of the secret interrogations of the ABCC and jailed for six months if we don't inform on our workmate. That is the state of the laws at the moment and it is a disgrace.
"We expect that Australians who voted for their rights at work [at the last election] should not see the continuation of laws which treat construction workers as second-class citizens and take away our most fundamental right to a safe workplace. We think that the spending of $33 million per year and the employment of 150 full-time inspectors on repressing workers' rights to organise at work is a disgrace under any government but more particularly under a Labor government."
Victorian secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, Dean Mighell, reminded the crowd of Rudd's pre-selection promises. "Do you remember him standing there in front of rallies saying 'Let's rip up Work Choices'?", Mighell asked.
"He's a lying little bastard. [He had] no intention of ripping up Work Choices, and we're stuck with the ABCC. Now they plan to turn it into Fair Work Australia. [If they] rebadge it and change the number plates, it's still a beat up, rusty old ute, and it's a shit car."
Mighell pledged: "Our union won't apologise for attacking the Labor Party, because the Labor Party is attacking my members and my members come first, not the bloody ALP."
Cesar Melham, state secretary of the Australian Workers Union, walked on stage to loud boos and heckling from the crowd. Melham was forced to acknowledge the response, which stems from his union's role in a current industrial dispute between the CFMEU, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and John Holland Construction over the West Gate Bridge strengthening project. (See article page 5.)
Melham repeated calls for the ALP to fulfill its pre-election promise to scrap the ABCC.
The very loud rally marched through Melbourne's CBD to the offices of one of the architects of the ABCC, the Master Builders Association.
To overwhelming applause, CFMEU state secretary Bill Oliver concluded the rally, saying: "Today ... we are sending a loud and clear message this is the start of an industrial campaign to get rid of the ABCC."
A motion from the crowd called for all workers present not to return to work for the day, as a sign of respect for all workers who had died on the job. The motion was passed unanimously.
On the same day, 2000 workers marched in Brisbane and more than 3000 rallied in Perth. Across New South Wales, more than 4000 construction workers observed a minute's silence. Hundreds gathered in Hobart, Adelaide and Darwin.