The AMIEU Newcastle & Northern Branch today acknowledges and welcomes the announcement by the Australian Labor Party that it will make sweeping changes to the process by which trade agreements are negotiated and reviewed.
This new position from the ALP was only achieved after a group of devoted unions in NSW, including the AMIEU Newcastle & Nothern Branch, the AMWU NSW Branch, and the MUA Sydney Branch, applied intense pressure to the ALP over the last week to remind them of their obligations to working people in this country.
These unions have already announced their positions to reduce or halt all financial and in-kind support to the Australian Labor Party, and were only hours away from protesting directly outside the ALP’s exclusive fundraising gala last week when the ALP agreed to make the changes.
The AMIEU Newcastle & Northern NSW Branch wishes to extend a heartfelt congratulations to these unions for their committment to their members, and to thank them for their solidarity on this issue.
“It is very clear that big business not only has too much power in our society and our economy, but also too much power inside the Australian Labor Party,” said AMIEU Newcastle & Northern NSW Secretary Grant Courtney.
“Those Labor members who do remember what they are supposed to stand for, who remember that it was the trade union movement who founded the ALP in the first place, they are clearly unable to have their voices heard.”
“Meat work is now Australia’s largest manufacturing industry. Our members are already struggling with un- or under-employment, exploitation of visa workers, massive regional unemployment and much more. The TPP would have been the death blow for many of these hard-working Australians.”
“We will be watching the ALP very closely in the lead-up to the next election to make sure they deliver on this.”
More information:
Grant Courtney
Secretary
AMIEU Newcastle & Northern NSW
PH: (02) 4929 5496
amieu@meatworker.com.au