National Day of Protest - that's a lot of people

Well it was big, around 150,000 people marched through Melbourne as a show of support to say NO to unfair work laws. I started at Trades Hall with fellow travellers from the AMWU, the Plumbers, the ETU, the ASU and many, many more. From there we made our way, as much as possible to the Bourke St Mall.

I saw lots of people from the Dandenongs there, a great effort for them to get into town. It was also terrific to see a contingent from our very own Shire of Yarra Ranges.

I was really pleased to see the committment of our Shire staff to come along and join with thousands of others to send a message to the Federal Government about these draconian and unfair workplace reforms.














There is no doubt the Government's new IR reforms push down workers' wages and cut conditions. Today we heard 3 different people talk about their unfortunate experience under the new laws. In every case there was a negative outcome and it was a real demonstration of how brutal these new laws are.

It's important to continue the campaign not just for the workers of today but the workers of the future. It's been a long and hard battle to get to where we are today and we need to continue the fight before we lose too much.