Workers stage mass rallies in Australia labour protest

ABOUT 100,000 workers jammed the streets of three Australian cities yesterday to protest against the government’s planned labour law reforms, which they say will reduce job security and worsen working conditions.

Up to 60,000 people rallied in the Melbourne cold, Victoria state police said, bringing the city centre to a standstill. At least 30,000 workers marched on Sydney’s streets and another 15,000 gathered in Brisbane in a series of union-led rallies opposing the changes.

Prime Minister John Howard’s centre-right coalition has proposed sweeping reforms of Australia’s industrial relations system, saying employment conditions must be made more flexible if the country’s decade of economic growth is to continue.

Under the proposed reforms, each state’s labour laws would be replaced with a single, national system. They would also make it easier for businesses to fire workers, and to hire staff on individual contracts rather than negotiating collective agreements with unions.

The laws are expected to pass easily through parliament, which is controlled by Mr Howard’s government. He has come under fire from labour unions over the proposed reforms, and polls have suggested the public is deeply suspicious that the proposed laws will erode workers’ rights, especially regarding annual leave and overtime pay.

President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sharan Burrow, said unions would continue to fight the reforms, even if they were approved by the Howard government.

“For more than 100 years, Australia has had an industrial relations system that has given working people a share of the benefits of economic prosperity in the good times, and ensures that there are decent protections for people when times get tough,” she told a cheering crowd in Melbourne.

“This is the system the federal government’s workplace laws will destroy.