Australia's free trade agreement with China will kill jobs and allow hard-fought wages and conditions to be undercut, a union rally in Melbourne has been told.
Hundreds of protesters shouted "stand up, fight back" when told on Friday the deal would allow Chinese companies to import their own workforce for projects worth more than $150 million.
Union members from the construction, electrical, manufacturing, textile, clothing and footwear sectors gathered outside the Victorian Parliament to protest the agreement.
Electrical Trades Union national secretary Allen Hicks said it was wrong to characterise the unions' concerns as xenophobic or racist.
"Any worker that comes to this country should enjoy the conditions that we have fought hard for," he told the crowd.
Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari said Australia should not be selling off jobs on future infrastructure projects.
Labor MP Kelvin Thompson said the agreement was not fair to Australian workers so it should be "no deal".
Independent Senator John Madigan, who has a chance to vote against the deal in the senate, said it represented industrial reform by stealth.
"Australia has consistently signed up to free trade agreements that have eroded working conditions and standards of Australian manufactured goods and food," Senator Madigan told reporters at the rally.
"This agreement is just a back door way of driving down the working conditions of Australians."
Share
