Delegates and organisers from the ASU, the AMWU and the LHMU expressed their outrage at the plans by the Howard government to radically reduce workplace rights and voted to support a motion calling on their employers to reject these changes.

ASU Branch Secretary Julie Bignell addressed the gathering and explained that workers rights, which have gradually been fought for and won over the last hundred years, are now in danger of being seriously eroded.

Ms Bignell said: The community standards this government loves to talk about would not exist if it hadn't been for the efforts of workers and their families going through their unions and campaigning for a better deal.

How many improved conditions of work, or pay rises have there been which weren't collectively negotiated? How many rights that workers now enjoy that were freely given by employers or government? Not one.

Improvements in pay and conditions come about from collective action, and now all our hard work is going to be swept away by these reforms.

But the union movement is not going to sit quietly by while all of this is taken away. We are going to take our campaign onto the streets, and all the way to the parliament.

We encourage all workers to be as well informed as possible about this issue, and take an active part in the campaign to show Mr Howard that we won't take this lying down.