The past few months have been crucial for the union movement and our Change the Rules campaign in building momentum, exposing the lies of trickle-down economics, and preventing regressive legislation in the Parliament.
Our next major focus is building for a rally in November, as part of the national month of action, to highlight why Australian needs a pay rise. With wage growth at record low-levels, but corporate profits and CEO bonuses at US-style extremes, there’s never been more need to change the rules so working people can bargain for fair wages.
>> Find out more about the rally here
We’re also starting our election pledge program. In the 2016 election, this was one of our most effective campaign programs in having a material impact on the outcome in Eden Monaro. The next election is critical, and we want our supporters to pledge to put the Liberals last so we can restore fairness and tackle excessive corporate power. No matter who you give your first preference to, we need to make sure this anti-worker Liberal Government is thrown out!
The Liberal Party are storming ahead with their corporate donations. Media reports this week reveal that they’re close to raising $1 million for the Wentworth by-election, and we know that in 2016 a last-minute multi-million dollar donation from Turnbull helped them get over the line. We don’t have corporate donors or budgets of money from billionaire mining executives—but we do have people-power. Our fundraising campaign has raised almost $5000 in small donations (an average of $44 per donor) in the past few months to help us to Change the Rules in Canberra. Can you help us reach our goal?
The aged care sector is in a crisis, caused by underfunding from the Government and deregulation that has allowed massive multinational corporations to take over huge numbers of residential care facilities. The result is that profit-driven corporations are cutting services to residents and worsening the working conditions of nurses and caring staff. While the Federal Government has announced a royal commission into the sector, the truth is that unless resident-nurse ratios are introduced, and for-profit corporations are properly regulated.