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your rights at work
QPSU members and the broader Australian community took a big step in fighting for our rights at work in 2007 and changed the government.
In 2008 we will be continuing to campaign with the new government to ensure they introduce fair workplace laws to replace WorkChoices.
The QPSU has a political lobbying program - the Heroes program - to become a QPSU hero click here and sign up today. QPSU heroes will be sent information and opportunities to participate in activities to argue for fair laws throughout the year. To see what some of the hero missions were like in 2007 check out the Heroes site and "previous hero missions" section.
Workers who played a key role in helping get rid of Work Choices will be honoured by a formal vote of appreciation at today’s meeting of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Executive.
In a meeting of the ACTU Executive following the Labor Party’s landslide federal election win, Australia’s union leaders will pay tribute to all workers who spoke out against the Howard Govt’s unfair WorkChoices IR laws and contributed to the success of the ‘Your Rights At Work’ community campaign.
Two workers who appeared in the unions’ successful TV ad campaign will be on hand to receive the praise on behalf of all the workers that spoke out against WorkChoices.
- Andrew Cruickshank of Narre Warren in Victoria was sacked in late 2006 for ‘operational reasons’ under WorkChoices, an excuse which allows large companies to dismiss employees unfairly.
- Annette Harris of Coffs Harbour, NSW, was offered an AWA individual contract by her employer Spotlight which cut her penalty rates and overtime in return for a pay rise of just 2 cents an hour. Spotlight recently announced that it would no longer use AWAs.
ACTU President, Sharan Burrow said:
“All Australians should honour the courage and fortitude of the many workers who stood up against the Coalition’s unfair WorkChoices IR laws and withstood the disgraceful attacks on them by the Howard Government.
“Public awareness of their experiences of being disadvantaged and treated unfairly under Work Choices helped turn the tide against the Howard Government.
“The election was clearly a referendum on industrial relations — WorkChoices and the Liberals’ disgraceful attack on unions were totally rejected by the Australian people,” said Ms Burrow.
Unions today launched a new TV advertisement that thanks Australian workers for rejecting Work Choices and the Liberals’ dishonest anti-union scare campaign.