Statement from Sally McManus, ACTU Secretary:

“Senator Cash’s tenure as Minister responsible for Industrial Relations has been marked by repeated attempts to remove rights for working people and indifference to the real life issues facing working families.”

“Under Cash, working people’s wage growth was the lowest on record. 40 percent of the workforce is insecure work. Working people have fewer rights, and are struggling to pay the bills. Yet she oversaw the cuts to penalty rates for our lowest paid workers, opposed increases to the minimum wage, allowed wage theft and the abuse of people on work visas to become business models.”

“As Minister, Cash mislead the Parliament about her role in a raid on union offices on no fewer than five occasions. She thought nothing of going to the media with made up stories about working people to suit her agenda. Under her tenure, life work working people has got harder, but her attention was always on making the work of unions harder.”

“Cash opposed Family and Domestic Violence leave and removed it from her own workers whilst withholding pay increases.”

“She appointed Nigel Hadgkiss to head the anti-worker ABCC despite knowing that he had broken the laws he would be responsible for enforcing, and then used tax payers’ money to pay his fines.”

“In the end, everyone saw she had no credibility. She was driven by ideological obsession to hurt working people and their unions, and it is that obsession which has ended her role as Minister”.

“Australia faces a crisis of insecure work and record low wage growth which now must be addressed.”

“We call on the new Minister, Craig Laundy, to focus on the real issues facing working people and their families and to end the ideological war his Government has been taking to those who are on the side of working people”

ENDS