Unions ACT Secretary Alex White will lead a May Day rally as part of 12 days of action nationwide to Change the Rules to call for Australia’s broken workplace laws to be changed, to win job security, fairer pay rises, and to restore the rights of working people.
Working people in Canberra join thousands of Australians hitting the streets in May in a significant escalation of the Change the Rules campaign demanding a fairer go now. The events represent the largest mobilisation of working people since the Your Rights at Work campaign more than a decade ago.
People will march, rally and gather in Canberra, Wollongong, Adelaide, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Cairns, the Gold Coast, Maryborough, Fremantle, Sydney, Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Mackay, Alice Springs, Brisbane, Gladstone, Moranbah, Townsville, Darwin, Melbourne, Wodonga, and Thursday Island. Events began in Hobart and Newcastle last Sunday.
Quotes attributable to Unions ACT Secretary Alex White:
“Today we will be marching for more secure jobs, fairer pay, a strong independent umpire, and more respect as working people.
“Too many businesses in Canberra are exploiting our broken workplace laws. Tax dodging, wage theft, ignoring workers’ rights have become a business model: Enough is Enough.”
Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus:
“People from Canberra are ready to take action to change the rules and win more secure jobs and fair pay rises.
“They know big business has too much power, and they know that when working people join together we are mighty and unbreakable.
“Wherever I go in Australia I hear the same story –we are ready for change and willing to take action to make change.”
“Anyone who wants to live in a better, fairer country, who wants more secure jobs and fairer pay rises, should attend these events and join the movement for change.”
Event Details:
Unions Act Secretary Alex White will lead a rally to the Fair Work Commission to call for Australia’s
broken workplace laws to be changed.
Union members will be available for interview:
Shona Lee-Haddon: About the need for industry-wide bargaining,
Leah Bavin: A teacher at a Catholic primary school can address the need for the basic right to arbitration,
Clare Southerton can talk about being hired as a casual on insecure work both with the Australian National University and the University of Canberra.
What: Rally from the corner of Childers Street and University Avenue to the Fair Work Commission, calling for Australia’s broken workplace laws to be changed.
Where: Corner of Childers Street and University Avenue, to the Fair Work Commission in Canberra.
When: 12:30-1:30pm, Tuesday May 1
