Unions expect at least a quarter of a million Australians to flood capital city streets in a major protest against the Morrison government likely to coincide with the start of the federal election campaign.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions executive passed a resolution on Thursday to hold a national day of action on April 10.
"If we do not stand up for the fair go and demand political parties take action to turn around inequality, we will see the Americanisation of our society," the resolution, seen by AAP, says.
Protesters will line city streets eight days after the federal government hands down its pre-election budget and about a month before Australians are expected to head to the polls.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the rallies would demand action to address low wages growth, insecure work and unfair workplace laws.
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"We're sounding the alert, the alarm, saying that we need governments to take action to rebalance the power between workers and employers so we get a fair go," she told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox warned employees who stopped work could face hefty fines for unlawful industrial action, saying it was unfair for the ACTU to expose workers to penalties.
"The ACTU's rallies and its class-war rhetoric needs to be decisively rejected by all political parties," he said.
"Australian workplaces have moved on from the strike-plagued 1960s and 70s. The retrograde approach of the ACTU has no place in modern workplaces."
Ms McManus said the rallies were a political protest rather than targeted at employers, with the action not expected to last the whole day.
"We want employers who also believe in the fair go to join us. They too are suffering because of low wage growth," she said.
The Australian Building and Construction Commission has been pursuing details of workers who attended similar rallies last year.
Under ABCC laws, individuals can cop fines of up to $42,000 for participating in unlawful industrial action.
