Government and business representatives attending a Work Choices seminar at the Hotel Grand Chancellor on November 21 were met by protesters who described the meeting as a discussion about "exploiting workers, destroying unions and sacking people at will".
Since Work Choices' introduction, "workers across the country have been sacked without recourse, forced onto contracts with massive cuts in pay and conditions and victimised for being in a union", protest organiser Paul Benedek, from the Socialist Alliance, told Green Left Weekly.
"Days ago I was terminated on the spot, without warning, supposedly for not acting immediately on a manager's request to move my car", said protester Gonzalo Villanueva. "In reality, it was a political sacking, as I had been told previously that I come across 'too unionised'."