Workers will rally in Melbourne tomorrow (23 March 2023) to protest the cost of living crisis being fuelled by corporate greed - and to warn companies like VISY that they are being watched.

CPI rose 1.9% this quarter, meaning working people are absorbing price increases on everything they buy and spending more of their wages on bills. Meanwhile, company gross operating profits rose 10.6% seasonally adjusted for Dec 2022. 

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Analysis of the income flows associated with excess inflation since end-2019 confirm the dominance of corporate profits in the acceleration of inflation since the pandemic. Excess corporate profits account for 69% of additional inflation beyond the RBA’s target. Rising unit labour costs account for just 18% of that inflation. 

Tony Mavromatis, Victorian Branch State Secretary of the AMWU said “Cannery workers at the Visy Shepparton plant have been on the grass, fighting for a living wage, for over eight weeks. Anthony Pratt is worth an estimated $14 billion. But he’d prefer to let those workers go on strike than see them take home a living wage.”

“Australians need to see that there are real villains behind this cost of living crisis. We need to wake up to the outrageous greed that these corporates are demonstrating every day - and we need to tell them enough is enough. It’s time to put pay before profit.” 

Luke Hilakari, Secretary of Victorian Trades Hall Council, said that Australia's big corporations should feel ashamed of the grotesque profits they are squeezing from the exploitation of workers. 

“Every Australian company should be paying their workers a living wage that keeps pace with CPI, before they even think about posting a profit. These companies should be ashamed of flaunting grotesque profits while workers are doing it tough.”

“Australians are sick of the barefaced greed of companies like Visy, posting profits over $7billion at the same time that their cannery workers in Shepparton are having to take industrial action to get a decent pay rise.”

RALLY: 6.30am 23 March 2023 Cnr Bourke & Swanston st Melbourne