• Instigate
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    3 months ago

    Not all rights are won through violence. In Australia, the union movement has managed to secure the following through peaceful means, specifically through lobbying, striking and peaceful protest:

    • 40 hour work week; overtime for hours worked beyond this
    • sick leave and annual leave
    • maternity and paternity leave
    • Medicare, our semi-universal public healthcare
    • enforceable safety standards at work
    • compensation for injury at work
    • our ‘award’-based system of minimum pay and conditions per field
    • federally mandated superannuation (forced retirement saving paid by your employer, tax free)
    • protections against unfair dismissal

    While not all rights are gained through violence all rights are limited and revoked by violence, in particular state-sponsored violence.