Volunteers across Tasmania are expected to hit streets and knock doors ahead of the federal election in coming months, with the union movement campaign to change Australia's industrial relations system launching in the Bass electorate on Monday night.
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The Australian Council of Trade Unions and Unions Tasmania launched the Change the Rules election campaign with an event at the Launceston Workers Club.
The campaign seeks to change Fair Work laws to make it easier for unions to win higher pay, restore penalty rates and push federal Labor for commitments on a range of issues from to industry-wide bargaining to greater strike powers.
ACTU president Michelle O'Neil said people in Launceston and across the state's North needed fair pay rises and more secure jobs, with too many having become casual or short-term.
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Ms O'Neil added that wage growth in Tasmania was going backwards compared to living costs, "as it is around the country".
"Working people need stronger rights so we can negotiate fair pay rises that keep pace with living costs," she said.
"We want to make sure working people - regardless of whether they're in the private or public sector - have the rights they need to negotiate fair pay rises."
"This means updating our workplace laws so working people get a fair go."
Tasmania's estimated unemployment rate in January was above the national average and the second highest in the country at 6.2 per cent, according to Department of Treasury and Finance figures.
Full-time employment was estimated to have decreased by 0.6 per cent from the previous month, a drop of 0.9 per cent on the same period last year.
Part-time employment was estimated to have increased by 0.7 percent on the December figures - unchanged from January in 2018.
Unions Tasmania secretary Jessica Munday - who also attended the Monday event - said volunteers would be "knocking on doors and hitting streets" ahead of the federal election to "change the federal government, change the rules and restore a fair go for working people."
Federal Labor has flagged a change to the rules used by the Fair Work Commission to lift the minimum wage, though has not gone quite as fair as the union campaign is pushing. Bill Shorten has said the election will be a "referendum on wages".
But the party is yet to formally announce a wages policy. A reversal of Sunday and penalty rate cuts and has also been raised.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has claimed changes to the independent wage umpire could lead to job losses.
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