The Labour Day march in Ipswich on Saturday.
TAKING their frustration to the streets, workers marched at the Ipswich Labour Day rally on Saturday.
Marching hand-in-hand with his four-year-old son Ely, Electrical Trades Union delegate Joshua Williams said the day was now more relevant than ever.
"We had a lot of hard fought battles in the 1980s and '90s, now we have another one with publicly-owned assets like Queensland Rail being sold off and taken away from the community," Mr Williams said.
Queensland Public Sector Union general secretary Alex Scott said Labour Day was a time to celebrate the wins of both public and private sector workers when it came to fair pay, reasonable hours, reasonable workloads and fair working conditions.
"Across our state, public sector and private sector workers celebrate Labour Day as part of our commitment to working for better lives for everyone," Mr Scott said.
"No matter where we happen to be on Labour Day we enjoy a day out, a meal and some festivities. We stand up together and say fair pay, fair hours, reasonable workloads and conditions are the basic entitlements for workers everywhere and they are important."
Despite the placards denouncing the State Government's privatisation plans, Ipswich MP Rachel Nolan walked shoulder-to-shoulder with her political counterparts, including Ipswich West MP Wayne Wendt and Federal Member for Blair, Shayne Neumann.
Ms Nolan said she was a proud supporter of the day.
"It is important that the day is recognised by individuals and it is disappointing numbers are down this year."
Ms Nolan dismissed union criticism regarding the future move of maintenance work from the Redbank rail workshops to Maryborough, saying the government had already made a two-year employment guarantee to workshops staff.
"That's more certainty than most other employees have," she said.
But QR fitter Brett Gamlen said he believed his future was very much uncertain.
"I would say I would be out of a job once QR is privatised," he said.
The Redbank resident and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union delegate said he felt "sick" at the thought of the government's privatisation plans.
"Before they were elected the said they would look after state owned assets," Mr Gamlen said.
"Than they announced they were selling them off."
His thoughts were echoed by another QR Redbank employee, who did not wish to be named.
"In the long term, the sale of QR won't be good for Queensland workers," he said.
"What will happen once our jobs go?"
Do you agree with the privatisation of QR, Paul?
ReplyDelete