bosses in court as workers on streets

AUSTRALIA Post and Holden have gone to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to try to stop their workers swelling the ranks of the 100,000 people expected to protest in Melbourne today against the Howard Government's IR laws.

As Opposition Leader Kim Beazley prepared to address one of the biggest union rallies in a decade, Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten said the timing of former Labor leader Mark Latham's biography could not have been worse for the labour movement.

"What disappoints me is there are big rallies all around Australia tomorrow and somehow Mark Latham has coincided the launch of his book on the day before a lot of workers and employees would like to hear discussions about how the Howard Government is going to take away employment security and lower wages," Mr Shorten told ABC radio.

"It is a remarkable act of selfishness."

Victorian Trades Hall secretary Brian Boyd expected the protesters to fill four blocks of Swanston Street, which would make the rally similar in size to those held during the 1998 waterfront dispute.






A protest in NSW tomorrow has been given a limited endorsement by Premier Bob Carr, who said workers were "entitled under the law to take this action". However, he said employers should dock workers' pay.

The 2007 NSW election would be a "referendum" on the new federal IR regime.

Mr Carr backed away from calls for rolling strikes against the laws, but said employees faced with the choice between signing an individual contract, known as an Australian Workplace Agreement, or the sack, were entitled to picket.

Australia Post won an order at 1.30am on Tuesday saying the Communication Workers Union must not "incite, advise, persuade or encourage" its members to attend the rally.

The company has also told workers it will use its own doctors to check the medical certificates of anybody who calls in sick.

"We assume Australia Post is under political starting orders, making it very hard for postal workers to exercise their freedom of speech against unjust laws," union secretary Joan Doyle said.

But the company said it was simply reinforcing the terms of its enterprise agreement, under the Workplace Relations Act, which prohibits strikes except during pay talks. A spokeswoman was "pretty sure" the company was not under Government orders.

Holden last night lost its argument in the AIRC.

Other key Victorian employers will close their operations for the day. Ford will shut down its production line, a spokeswoman saying the company was "disappointed in the action," but would not challenge the unions, nor attempt to sue them.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union secretary Dave Oliver expected 14,000 of his members to come from around the state on 170 buses the union has chartered.

City commercial building sites will also be silent as Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union members take to the streets.

Master Builders Association of Victoria executive director Brian Welch said the rally would cost the state's building industry about $40 million and was nothing more than an exercise of muscle.

Mr Boyd rejected the suggestion that protests were outdated and useless, saying today would be the first of many protests, he said.