Sue Bolton, Melbourne
A union and community rally and picnic will be held in Mildura on September 3 to inform people in the Mallee Murray region about the federal government's plans to strip workers' rights. The event will encourage locals to join the nationwide campaign against the government's attacks.
Mallee Murray Trades and Labor Council secretary Alison Smith told Green Left Weekly that the event will be very important because information about what the Howard government is doing doesn't reach a lot of country workers.
Smith said the big problem for workers around Mildura is that most employment is very tenuous and has low wages, so no-one can afford to miss a day's pay. The two biggest unions in the area are the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Australian Services Union, covering municipal workers.
"A lot of people in the Mildura work force have never had federal awards", Smith explained. "They've just experienced common law awards under the state government. A lot are still on Schedule 1A [of the Workplace Relations Act], with five minimum conditions. They get four weeks' holiday pay, but no leave loading. They get five sick days, but no parental leave. There are no penalty rates. It's what Howard is trying to do to everyone."
Smith said that Howard's plan to abolish access to unfair dismissal laws by workers in businesses with less than 100 employees will hit Mildura workers hard. There are only five or six employers in the region that have 100 or more workers, she said.
The main industries in the region are rural juicing factories, fruit picking and fruit packing. The National Harvest Labour Office is run from Mildura.
The main unions involved in organising the September 3 rally are the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Health Services Union, the AWU and the shop assistants' union.
"This campaign is bringing people together", Smith said, "because the legislation affects everyone, not just unionists". The local Salvation Army branch was keen to support the rally, but decided it could not do so publicly for fear of losing its federal government funding.
The picnic and rally will be held at Jaycee Park from 11am to 2pm. There will be speakers, live music, a free sausage sizzle and a jumping castle for the kids. The Mallee Murray TLC is organising street stalls to publicise the rally. If you would like to help, phone (03) 5022 1926.
From Green Left Weekly, August 24, 2005.
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