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Issue No. 313 | 30 June 2006 |
Spin Cycle
Interview: Rock Solid Industrial: Eight Simple Rules for Employing My Teenage Daughter Politics: The Johnnie Code Energy: Fission Fantasies History: All The Way With Clarrie O'Shea International: Closer to Home Economics: Taking the Fizz Unions: Stronger Together Review: Montezuma's Revenge Poetry: Fair Go Gone
Graphic Glimpse Behind the Veil Hardie Busted Over Burn Victim
The Soapbox The Locker Room Parliament Education
Dare To Dream Better Get A Lawyer The Last Laugh
Labor Council of NSW |
News Record Numbers in Blacktown
The 40,000 who braved a cold winter morning were among over 200,000 people across the country that took to the streets on a national day of action against John Howard's workplace laws. All roads to Blacktown were clogged with heavy traffic, while passengers who packed trains from the city and further west were greeted by station staff, transit officers and busy shopkeepers doing a roaring trade decked out in orange and yellow Your Rights At Work T Shirts and badges. Another 30,000 workers turned out at over a dozen venues across regional NSW. The rally at Blacktown heard real life stories from people affected by the Work Choices laws. Paul Weston, a garbage truck driver from Wyong on the Central Coast, told the rally that WorkChoices threatened to slash his take home pay. "I'd like John Howard to look my wife and family in the eye and tell them why we have to put our house on the market." Lifetime Liberal voter Jane Lee, sacked from her job as a childcare worker nine days after the new laws came into effect, told the rally she wouldn't be voting for Howard at the next election. "The message is clear, John Howard has to go," John Robertson, secretary of Unions NSW told the rally. The 40,000 workers then marched through the shopping district of suburban Blacktown, receiving a warm welcome from shoppers, with many business operators coming out on the footpath to applaud the rally. Upwards of 150,000 rallied in Melbourne, with the march starting from four points around the city. Kim Beazley told the Melbourne crowd that, if elected, the Labor Party would "tear up" the Workchoices laws. Tens of thousands rallied in Brisbane, Adelaide Perth and Tasmania, where a 3,000 strong march in Launceston was lead by Beaconsfield mine survivor Brant Webb.
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