ACTU launches Change the Government campaign ahead of federal election
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has launched a TV campaign featuring Australians affected by the federal government’s changes to workplace laws.
Coming ahead of the May 18 election, the series echoes the ACTU’s successful 2007 Your Choices at Work campaign and extends the ‘Change the Rules’ campaign launched by the peak union body earlier this year.
The TV campaign has rolled out on free-to-air networks nationally and will be backed by radio, out-of-home and digital placements.
Along with FTA, the campaign will also be run on subscription television with an ACTU spokesperson telling Mumbrella: “The ad is going out nationally across all platforms, including subscription television.
“This is an extension of the Change the Rules campaign that uses the experiences of real people to illustrate the reality of work under the Morrison Government.”
Featured in the campaign are a range of workers aged between 20 to 60. Among the individuals interviewed are actors, tradies, transport workers, mining workers, bar managers, and swim teachers.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said when launching the commercials: “This campaign shows the truth of working life for far too many Australians.
“The campaign shows that we have a choice about the future for working people in Australia. We can continue down the low-pay, insecure American path, or we can change the government and change the rules to win a fair go for working people.”
In its 2007 Your Choices at Work campaign, the ACTU highlighted the effects of the then Howard government’s Workchoices policies on working people. The campaign was widely seen as being one of the decisive factors in the Liberal party’s loss, which saw Labor’s Kevin Rudd sweep to power and Prime Minister John Howard lose his own seat.
