Griffith members of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) NSW have come together demanding new workplace laws to deliver more secure jobs and better pay for working people.
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ETU secretary Dave McKinley met with these members on Wednesday, briefing them on the national Change the Rules campaign.
Graham Montgomery, retired worker and honorary Griffith ETU Member, said the current system doesn’t give workers a fair playing field to negotiate better wages or conditions.
“When you take entitlements like penalty rates away from people, it has a big impact in communities like Griffith,” Mr Montgomery said.
“That’s why we are seeing workers joining unions and working together to change the rules.”
Mr McKinley said the members know the system is broken and have seen wages stagnate, job security reduced, penalty rates being cut, and big business taking “more than its fair share.”
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“Our members at major businesses like Essential Energy have seen how employers can use the system to prevent them from getting a fair deal, with industrial action effectively banned, and the ability of management to threaten to rip up workplace agreements if workers don’t accept cuts to conditions.
“At the same time, redundancies, outsourcing, casualisation, and the growing use of labour hire have stripped away job security.
Mr McKinley said consumers were also losing out due to the growing power of big business.
“Big business has been making record profits, but that money isn’t being shared around, with workers enduring stagnant wages and apprentice numbers plummeting.”
“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.”
