Firefighters have joined rallies against the O’Farrell Public Sector attacks, and campaigned with other workers, all over NSW over the last few weeks.

The article below is just one of the many regional success stories.

Maintain the rage.

Hundreds rally against O’Farrell wages policy

BY LISA COX
15 Jul, 2011
THEY marched down the street chanting “shame, Barry, shame” and “hands off workers’ conditions”.

Orange’s public sector workers turned out in their hundreds yesterday to rally against the O’Farrell government’s wages policy for public sector workers.

Teachers, nurses, police, firefighters, council workers and representatives for every other public sector union stopped traffic as they marched down Summer Street and demanded the Coalition government repeal its wages policy.

Waving flags and banners, hundreds of Orange’s frontline workers condemned Premier Barry O’Farrell, and called on member for Orange Andrew Gee to resign if he refused to oppose the legislation.

The laws, which protesters yesterday described as “worse than WorkChoices”, cap wage increases at 2.5 per cent and sideline the Industrial Relations Commission, giving the government full power to set salaries and conditions for public servants.

Demonstrators told the Central Western Daily that the legislation would result in fewer police patrols, longer wait times in public hospitals, and fewer firefighters to battle blazes, if public servants were forced to make productivity savings to fund salary increases above 2.5 per cent.

Teachers said denying workers the right to negotiate conditions and entitlements in the IRC would lead to larger class sizes, poorer learning conditions for students and fewer extra-curricular activities such as excursions.

“This legislation means that any conditions that have been fought for over the last 110 years can be changed at a politician’s whim,” high school teacher and NSW Teachers Federation member Russell Culverson said.

“It’s going to affect teachers’ ability to deliver the curriculum if they’re losing conditions like sick leave and losing even their basic wage.”

Police officer and Police Association of NSW member Terry Johns travelled from Cowra to join the march to Robertson Park.

He was part of a massive police contingent that said an attack on wages and conditions would lead to fewer police to patrol country towns.

http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news/local/news/general/hundreds-rally-…