arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Around 100,000 people took part in rallies throughout the state of New
South Wales today, following yesterday's 100,000-person demonstration in
Melbourne and protests in cities and towns around the country involving
tens of thousands more.

"This is about whether or not working people will be treated like
commodities and that is the international principle - no worker should
be treated like a commodity." said Sharan Burrow in Perth where some
20,000 took part in a rally. Burrow is President of the Australian
Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and of the ICFTU.

The ICFTU Executive Board at its meeting last week pledged to generate
international support for the Australian trade union campaign,
recognising that if the laws proposed by Prime Minister John Howard are
implemented, then Australia would find itself at the bottom of the OECD
ladder in terms of rights and protections for working people. A case
will also be brought to the UN's International Labour Organisation,
which has already criticized existing anti-union measures introduced by
the Howard government.

The ACTU is also running an extensive advertising campaign to bring home
the full impacts of the government's plans, and community and church
groups from around the country have expressed serious concern over the
prospect of lower wages and even less protection, especially for the
most vulnerable and lowest-paid workers.

"Respect for fundamental workers' rights, and the social and economic
benefits which stem from this, are the cornerstones on which every
country should build its economy. Joining a race to the bottom can only
harm Australia's position in the global economy, and will seriously
damage its international reputation", said ICFTU General Secretary Guy
Ryder.

The ICFTU represents 145 million workers in 233 affiliated organizations
in 154 countries and territories.