From Kim Sattler Secretary Unions ACT There is a rally on Wednesday 26 November outside Parliament House at 12noon to protest against the unfair ABCC legislation which affects all construction workers. A petition will be handed over to the Parliament asking for the abolition of the Australian Building & Construction Commission.
See my posts in the ABCC category.
Download and distribute this flyer.
The rally needs support because building workers in Canberra have all been visited in the last week and threatened about their attendance at this rally. They have been told that if they go in their lunchbreak and they are a minute late back from lunch then they will lose 4 hours pay. They have also been told that this may constitute an illegal union meeting and that they may be liable for fines of up to $22,000!!
This means that other people are going to have to march in their place.
National union officials from all the construction unions will be here for the rally.
It will open with a Welcome to Country and also feature a gaol cell with building workers inside.
A Hakka will be performed by the local Maori community.
Speakers include Sharan Burrow and Dave Noonan.
There will be orange T-shirts given to participants which will feature “One Law for All†and Stand Up on November 26â€.
See on this blog, posts of papers for the democratic right to politically protest by attending this rally – outlawed by Howard and yet to be repealed by the Rudd Labor government.
Noel Washington
On the 2nd December, union official Noel Washington is facing jail.
If you thought that union officials in Australia couldn’t go to jail for doing their job, in a few days you might be proven wrong.
A few months ago, Noel went to a union meeting near a building site during lunch hour. This is perfectly legal, but a few weeks later the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) subpoenaed him for interrogation.
Noel faces court because he refused to say what happened at a union meeting.
The ABCC is a hangover of Howard’s industrial laws – a regulatory body that actively enforces industrial laws made specifically for the construction industry. No other Australian workers are subject to such repressive laws.
As MPs head back to Parliament, now is the time to make some noise to make sure this can’t happen again to any other union official or worker. We need the laws changed. And changed now.
Help us get 5000 emails to MPs over the next 2 weeks to help change the laws.
The penalties for those who don’t cooperate with ABCC investigations are unprecedented – fines of up to $22,000 for things like stopping work to make sure workers are safe and jail for up to 6 months if you don’t answer their questions. Even the police don’t have the powers the ABCC have.
In Noel’s words – “I’m not setting out to be a hero. I just want construction workers to have the same rights as other Australians.”
Will you help us to make some noise in support of Noel? We know that the MPs are listening and feeling the heat of the Rights on Site Campaign against these laws.
From Dave Noonan and the rest of the Rights on Site Campaign Team.
Charges against Washington dropped
No comments yet.