Saturday, January 24, 2015

South Coast Labour Council - Work Choices warning

Pay and conditions like those experienced by foreign workers at the Manildra site in Bomaderry could be "what every worker faces" if protections are removed warns Arthur Rorris, South Coast Labour Council Secretary.

Rorris slammed the Abbott government for breaking yet another promise - this time an election commitment it wouldn't reproduce WorkChoices.

Rorris said the government was getting the commission to "do its dirty work" and was going to "hide like a coward" behind them. "The workers of this country have not forgotten WorkChoices [and] have not forgotten what these attacks mean."

Rorris said just this week, the Illawarra heard of "outrageous allegations of exploitation of foreign workers" at Bomaderry.

"That is fresh in our minds and I say to every worker in the region - the difference between having a minimum wage and not having a minimum wage is clear for all to see in the faces of those workers in the Illawarra Mercury" he said.

"That's what every worker faces if you take away those protections."

Cunningham MP Sharon Bird said the Liberal government went out of its way before the election to say WorkChoices was "dead, buried and cremated".

"It's being resurrected again," Ms Bird said.

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