Illawarra workers have joined a protest outside Parliament House in Canberra.
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This week, Illawarra miners, steelworkers, manufacturing workers, teachers and those in the public sector will be taking part in the Australian Jobs Embassy in Canberra.
The embassy was set up last week by seafarers of the MV Portland.
In January, as many as 30 security guards boarded the Alcoa ship MV Portland and removed the five unionised seafarers on board and replaced them with foreign workers.
At the time an Alcoa spokesman said the action was taken to end protracted industrial action.
"These Australian seafarers have been told they have no right to work in their own country," the MUA's assistant national secretary, Ian Bray, told a crowd on the job embassy’s first day.
The South Coast Labour Council was involved in organising the Illawarra’s input this month, said secretary Arthur Rorris.
He said the issue of jobs was paramount for the region, and not just regarding the ongoing issue of the steel industry, where the labour council is still waiting for a federal government action on using Australian-made steel in infrastructure projects.
“Whilst this is happening around the country, there’s no doubt the Illawarra has had more than its fair share of hits to jobs,” Mr Rorris said.
“So the whole point of this is to say what is happening on the water is happening on the land as well. It’s a display of unity to say we’ve got to fight this together for the sake of Australian jobs.”
Mr Rorris said the idea of the embassy was to send the message that perhaps an embassy dedicated to jobs was necessary because the government and politicians were not doing enough to protect Australian workers.
“This is our voice – this is us saying to them, every day that you’re here, we’ll be here,” he said.
“We’ll be talking to them, saying jobs are what matters to the people of this country, not the distractions. It’s jobs, that’s what gets talked about every night around the dinner table, how to play the mortgage how to pay the bills.
“And why our federal government is not supporting Australian jobs.
“We’re here to reinforce that message.”