On such a day, the importance of Union involvement in keeping workers safe becomes strikingly clear. Hunter Workers (formerly Newcastle Trades Hall Council) is a “peak Union” that helps workers with their rights at work.

The Union movement has been active in formulating laws that enforce high health and safety standards to keep workers safe.

As of the 20th April 2016, 41 Australian workers have already been killed at work this year. 

Part of the reason why Unions are so strong around Newcastle, and much of the region’s cultural identity is centred around ‘working class pride’ is due to the function of Unions in keeping the region’s core industries safe.

According to Safe At Work Australia, Unionised workforces are 70 per cent more likely to follow higher standards of health and safety than workplaces where unionisation is poor.

Disturbingly, the measures taken by the Liberal government to curb Union involvement are being made in highly dangerous sectors, such as in construction where Union involvement is essential to keep these workers safe.

Construction and building is a sector that requires constant communication with Unions to ensure health and safety standards are being met.

In 2016 alone, over 12 per cent of workplace fatalities arose in the Construction industries (making up 5 of the 41 death total).

Right now, much is being made of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) regarding the election. But few actually know what the ABCC really is.   

If the Liberal government is successful in its plans to implement the ABCC, this will be the second time the ABCC has been enforced. It was previously implemented by the Howard Government in 2005 and dismantled by the Labor government in 2012. Much of the purpose of the ABCC was to prevent Unions from being involved in the workplaces of construction and building sites.

Workers who took part in Union action were penalised, interrogated, exposed to jail threats, and hefty fines. As a result, the ABCC became infamous and was known to have led to the increased death toll of construction and building sites.