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HOBART
THOUSANDS of public sector workers marched to Parliament House lawns in Hobart this morning in protest against the state government's budget cuts.
The rally comes as part of a planned two-hour stopwork across the state.
Union leaders and school workers addressed the lively crowd, with chants of ''Will tells lies'' and ''Good will's gone''.
The government plans to cut 266 education department jobs, 224 roles in health and 174 state growth department positions, after legislation to apply a 12 month freeze on wages and increments did not pass the Legislative Council.
Teachers, health workers, park rangers, prison staff, TasTAFE workers and Parliament House staff were among those in the crowd.
Unions Tasmania president Roz Madsen said Premier Will Hodgman lied to Tasmanians.
''He always intended to break all these promises,'' Ms Madsen said.
“Will Hodgman is gutting our schools, TAFEs and Colleges, sacking 266 teachers, axing classes like special assistance programs, PE, music, art, languages and excursions, cutting IT support and sacking Pathway Planners,'' she said.
Treasurer Peter Gutwein told Parliament the government had done what it promised it would do.
Ms Madsen said the stopwok action involved 11 unions and was the largest industrial action since 1986.
LAUNCESTON
THE ''shameful'' actions of the current government led to up to 1000 public sector employees walk off the job and attend stop work action in Launceston today.
The auditorium at the Inveresk Tramsheds was packed with people this morning while up to 600 gathered outside listening to a loud speaker.
Paramedics, nurses, teachers, teachers assistants, and government maintenance employees attended for two hours to add their voices to the growing unrest against their employer's plan to cut 266 jobs from education, 224 from health and 174 from state growth.
Australian Education Union president Terry Polglase said the government had failed to build adequate relationships with the people it served.
''When you start to attack the very fundamentals of us being able to provide a decent education for every child, based on their level of need, we get annoyed,'' he said.
Australian Council of Trade Unions Dave Oliver, Community and Public Sector Union assistant secretary Mat Johnston also spoke at the event.