The rules are broken and we need to get some fairness back into the industrial relations system.
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That's the main thrust of an ACTU-inspired Change the Rules campaign currently being rolled out across the state.
Electrical Trades Union NSW secretary Dave McKinley was in Port Macquarie on Monday July 30 to meet with members of the union.
He said the campaign wants new workplace laws to deliver more secure jobs and better pay for working people.
"There are a range of issues currently in play in the industrial relations landscape that are pretty much screwing up the country," he said.
"This includes, the right to strike - which has disappeared - and the downward trend on wages and conditions. We also have wage stagnation, cuts to penalty rates and the casualisation of the workforce.
"All these issues affect working class families across Australia.
"This campaign just calls for fairness in the system. We are not looking for anything ridiculous. We just want balance back in the industrial relations system."
Mr McKinley said a more balanced system would give workers the right to have a say and give employers the ability to stop anything that is over the top.
He says the campaign, while targeting union members, had an impact on every family.
Cuts to penalty rates can and do affect every family.
- Dave McKinley
"Cuts to penalty rates can and do affect every family," he said.
"It is a cliche, but the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer."
He said corporate Australia is wrecking working class Australia.
“Big business has been making record profits, but that money isn’t being shared around, with workers enduring stagnant wages and apprentice numbers plummeting.”
Mr McKinley said consumers were also losing out due to the growing power of big business.
“In the electricity sector, while job numbers have been slashed and services reduced, the prices charged to consumers have continued to rise,” he said.
“Stagnant wages, cuts to penalty rates, and a lack of job security have all reduced the spending power of working families, having flow-on impacts throughout the economies of their local communities.
“That’s why we are committed to campaigning to change the rules to give working people the basic rights they need to improve their living standards through more secure work and improved wages.”
