HERALD SUN:THOUSANDS of Victorian workers have defied threats of docked pay to march through central Melbourne to protest against federal industrial relations laws.
About 20,000 people and hundreds of children marched from Trades Hall to Flinders St this morning, bringing CBD traffic to a standstill....
Some building sites were abandoned by up to 70 per cent of workers. But other workplaces reported scant disruption....
Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd said he was surprised at the turnout.
"I've just chaired a meeting of forty or fifty thousand going all the way up to Bourke St from Flinders St," Mr Boyd said.
"We started with about 25,000 at Trades Hall and people have joined along the way."
Today in Melbourne a mass rally starting at Trades Hall Council at 10am, marched to Flinders St via Swanston St. The crowd was estimated, after it grew along the route, to be between 35,000 – 40,000 people. The march was high spirited and united in condemning the Howard Government for imposing harsh industrial laws on Australian workplaces. The main theme of the rally was to express concern of Howard’s WorkChoices legislation and its negative impact on young people. Several young people addressed the rally and told their stories of hardship resulting from this legislation. Other speakers also included representatives from churches and community groups.
