NSW Public Services Rally

Firstly, I would like to warmly thank everyone who attended the rally outside Parliament House on 15 June.

I would particularly like to thank those who travelled great distances to show their support for the PSA and our campaign against the O’Farrell Government’s new WorkChoices styled wage laws.

I’m proud to say that the PSA was very strongly represented at the 12,000 strong rally - footage from which can be viewed here - despite the quite deliberate intimidation by the Government in relation to the taking of leave to attend the protest.

The PSA is currently seeking legal advice on their outrageous actions.

With O’Farrell’s laws passed by Parliament on 16 June and your pay increases officially capped at a below inflation level of 2.5%, the Government is now set to target every condition that you have long enjoyed from sick and flex leave to maternity leave and penalty rates.

And with the sidelining of the Industrial Relations Commission and its traditional role as umpire, we have no avenue of appeal.

But what we do have is our strength as a union as well as strong support from the community.

The PSA collected almost 16,000 signatures in just four working days - an amazing effort - in protest against the laws and presented them to the Leader of the Opposition, John Robertson.

That level of support is something that we can really build on.

The rally on 15 June was just the start of what will be a long campaign aimed at restoring collective bargaining rights for public sector workers in NSW.

There will be further industrial action in both metropolitan and regional areas as the campaign gathers momentum in the coming months.

We are also currently seeking legal advice on the laws.

The Government is not invincible.

It still has to present regulations to Parliament to give specific effect to the new laws.

For each and every one of those regulations we will be pressuring the cross bench MPs from the Shooters and Fishers Party and the Christian Democratic Party who hold the balance of power in Parliament.

I encourage all members, and family and friends to do the same as well as raising concerns with your local MP.

Spell out to them exactly how heavily the new laws will impact on you, your family and your community.

The fight has only just begun.

John Cahill