This year's annual International Women's Day rally in Melbourne is being organised by the Victorian Trades Hall Council. To be held at the GPO at noon on March 8, the rally will focus on protesting against PM John Howard's legislative attacks on the wages and working conditions of women workers.
Rally organiser Ellen Kliemaker told Green Left Weekly: "Female workers here are concentrated in just a few industries, such as hospitality, textile factories and cleaning. They tend to work in small workplaces in part-time and casual roles. They are less likely to be unionised and are losing rights in the workplace. They are earning next to nothing, and their wages have gone down 2% since the introduction of Howard's IR laws."
Kliemaker said the rally will highlight issues such as equal pay, safe and secure work, and paid maternity leave (Australia has the second worst rate of paid maternity leave in the Western world, after the US).
There will also be a speak-out on the corner of Bourke and Swanston streets at 5pm, outside the Nike shop, called by Stop the War Coalition, focussing on the devastating effects of war on women across the globe.