The Guardian 5 April, 2006
You’re sacked race
Richard Titelius
To mark the start of Howard’s radical Industrial Relations Laws and regulations, on Monday 27 March, Unions WA held a "You’re sacked race" from three meeting points during lunchtime in the Central Business District of Perth Western Australia.
Workers line up to defend Your Rights at Work!
Members and officials from a diverse range of unions participated in the event including a few union secretaries. Many of the participants donned eye catching "your rights at work" Hessian sacks (not previously used for carting asbestos fibre from Wittenoom) with slogans testifying to the unwarranted and capricious excuses for which employers may seek to terminate the employment contracts of their workers under Howard’s so-called Work Choices legislation.
Along the various routes through the CBD the members and officials ranging from state and federal public servant unions to metal workers and transport workers handed out bright orange leaflets outlining the major thrust of the new legislation and the impact it could have on workers, families and their communities to a curious and mostly receptive public.
The highlight of the proceedings was an actual sack race across the Terrace held by an enthusiastic and athletic group of workers to the Federal Industrial Relations Commission, whose powers have been significantly reduced by the new IR laws, taking Australia back to the 19th century.
Unions WA Secretary Dave Robinson addressed the rally held at the Commission and issued a challenge to the Howard Government that unions across Australia will resist these laws. That the community will reject their unfairness and duplicity, and at the next election the people of Australia will vote out this government which introduced these laws that tear at the very fabric of Australian society.
One noticeable absence from the rally that day was the Construction union (CFMEU), whose members had been served with special notices by the Australian Building and Construction Commission for previous participation in industrial action.
The companies who are choosing to come down hard on the construction workers and the officials from their union are acting with the full support of the Howard government.
The construction unions face a double whammy, that of the sanctions under Work Choices and those of the Building Construction Industry Improvement Act, as the government seeks to weaken the power and resolve of unions in the construction industry.
However, the union movement will not be cowered by such Machiavellian and draconian laws and the obsequious Federal Government acting at the behest of the transnational corporations and its capitalist masters.
The union movement and the working classes of Australia have withstood bigger challenges before in the defence of a just and fair working life and are not about to participate in a sack race to the bottom.
*Richard Titelius is a delegate for the CPSU/CSA in WA.