Chanting “shame Barry, shame”, 35,000 people from dozens of unions and their supporters rallied in Sydney’s Domain on September 8 to oppose savage cuts to public services and job conditions.
Contingents of teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, rail and bus workers, and public sector workers swelled the ranks of the protest, the largest union rally in the state in 20 years.
The rally, held just two days after the O’Farrell government handed down its budget, was almost double the size predicted by Unions NSW.
This reflected the high levels of anger across NSW at the government’s plan to slash 5000 public sector jobs, with the threat of tens of thousands more to come.
A short march to Hyde Park, via the state parliament building on Macquarie Street, took almost two hours. Thousands of protesters were still in the Domain when the front of the rally arrived at Hyde Park.
Workers were also outraged at the government’s move to cap public sector wage rises at 2.5% a year. With inflation at just under 4% and cost of living increases in places like Sydney even higher, this “wage cap” is, in effect, a forced wage cut.
The biggest rally contingent was from the NSW Teachers Federation. Up to 70,000 teachers took part in a 24-hour strike on September 8 to oppose the wage cut.
Teachers walked out despite the threat of fines by the Industrial Relations Commission.
Speakers at the rally also spoke out against the O’Farrell government’s privatisation agenda. Ferry workers were cheered for walking off the job to oppose plans to lease Sydney Ferries to private interests. The September 6 budget also outlined plans to privatise Port Botany.
About 10,000 workers joined protests across regional NSW, with 1000-strong rallies in Dubbo, Coffs Harbour and Albury.