PSA supports Australian workers’ fight
29 November 2006
PSA supports Australian workers’ fight against Howard
The Public Service Association, New Zealand’s largest union, is today expressing support for the thousands of Australian workers marching against the Howard Government’s industrial relations reforms.
The Howard Government's radical reforms curtail rights at work, cut the amount of time Australians can spend with family, and erode job security. The PSA has written to John Howard to express opposition to the reforms which breach international labour standards.
“Howard’s industrial relations reforms are a brutal attack on Australian workers and their families,” said PSA National Secretary Richard Wagstaff. “We are proud to join with Australian workers in opposition to their government’s breach of core labour standards and basic human rights.”
“New Zealand workers have not forgotten the destructive impact of the harsh Employment Contracts Act during the 1990s where workers were stripped of rights at work and forced into poverty and unstable employment.”
This National Day of Action, organised by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, follows two others when hundreds of thousands of Australians marched against the reforms.
“John Howard’s government will rue the day when they implemented these harsh workplace reforms. It is clear that there is a groundswell of opposition from workers and communities in Australia and around the world.”
ENDS