The peak body for working people, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, welcomes the opportunity to sit down with the Government and employers to discuss how our economy can be rebuilt as flagged by Prime Minister, Scott Morrison at his national press club speech.
The ACTU also welcomed the withdrawal of the Ensuring Integrity legislation – a law which unions and many legal experts say was a direct attack on the democratic rights of workers.
The ACTU called on the government to ensure that the recovery strengthens the rights of all working people, and reiterated that attacks on working people, whether from business lobbyists or governments, were not compatible with a cooperative approach to rebuilding Australia.
As noted by ACTU Secretary Sally McManus:
“Working people need to be at the centre of rebuilding our economy. That means getting us through this pandemic, better quality jobs with security and ensuring working people fairly share in the wealth of our country,
“Australian Unions will not lose our focus on the immediate challenge to stop a second wave of infections. This is our first job, otherwise the pain and sacrifices working people have made, with 20 per cent of working people now unemployed or underemployed and so many losing income, will be for nothing.
“Stopping a second wave is why we will continue to call for paid pandemic leave for all workers, so people do not go to work sick.
“The ACTU will measure any changes to industrial relations law on the benchmarks of; will it give working people better job security, and will it lead to working people receiving their fair share of the country’s wealth?
“The work of job creating will involve much more than industrial law changes and we will continue to put forward ideas on Australia can create good, secure jobs for workers.
“The Ensuring Integrity legislation is symbolic of the politics of the past, we welcome it being withdrawn.
“We will make sure the voice of working people continues to be at the table, as we have been throughout the crisis, as we rebuild the economy.”
