Your Rights at Work Your Rights at Work – Worth Fighting For is an ongoing union and community campaign to restore workers’ rights and achieve fairer industrial relations laws. The campaign has been called the most successful union and community campaign in Australian election history. It began four years ago when the former Howard Government announced sweeping changes to workplace laws that would strip away basic rights at work including penalty rates, overtime and unfair dismissal protection. Once thousands of Australians, including many young workers,  began feeling the impact of WorkChoices the campaign grew rapidly into a broad-based movement for a fair go. People were mobilised to take action because the former Liberal Government’s unfair WorkChoices IR laws went too far. Australians said ‘enough is enough’. Your Rights at Work was instrumental in the eventual downfall of the Liberal and National Party Government of John Howard and Peter Costello. In decades to come, historians will refer to the 2007 election as the ‘Rights at Work’ election. But the elevation of Tony Abbott to the leadership of the Liberal Party has put all that at risk again. He has signaled he will unwind employee protections in the name of a free labour market and more power for employers. Australian unions will not stand by and allow workers’ rights to be threatened again. We need stronger rights at work, not WorkChoices Mark II. New Fair Work laws After four years of campaigning, and months of debate in the Federal Parliament, a new set of Fair Work industrial relations laws to replace WorkChoices began operation on 1 July 2009. The Fair Work laws give workers stronger rights to negotiate their wages and conditions and to have a say in their workplace. They will safeguard the rights of workers to be represented by a union and to bargain collectively for safe, secure and satisfying work. And from 1 January 2010, young people and other vulnerable workers will be protected by a strong safety net of national standards, awards and rights. The campaign continues The passage of the laws is a victory we can all take pride in having achieved. But our work goes on. The new Fair Work laws will begin to take effect from 1 July 2009 and unions will be able to use the new laws to redress the damage caused by WorkChoices and to protect the jobs, wages and conditions of workers in the economic downturn. While these laws are a major step forward, there is still unfinished business that needs to be addressed. Unions will never stop campaigning for a better deal for Australian workers and their families. We need to see better health and safety laws, an end to unfair laws in the construction industry, no workers being disadvantaged by award modernisation, and a range of other improvements to workers’ rights. Take Action www.rightsatwork.com.au Key resources Fair Work Act factsheet Time to celebrate new IR laws - stronger rights and protections for Australian workers Information on Fair Work Act Get free expert advice on workplace issues IR laws training Factsheets Campaign videos More information Jeff Lawrence speech to Workplace Relations Summit Sharan Burrow opinion article on new laws