There were no arrests during the Change the Rules rally, calling for better working conditions and pay, according to Victoria Police.
The rally, which organisers say attracted 170,000 protesters, began at Trades Hall at 10.30am on the corner of Lygon and Victoria streets, and concluded at Flinders St station about 12.30pm.
Construction workers on Swanston St were heckled as “scabs”, while dogs joined the throngs of men and women chanting from songsheets while grasping pickets and brandishing huge Eureka flags.
“Hey, hey, ho, ho these broken rules have to go! Wage theft is not OK, change the rules, make them pay!” they sang, as they weaved through Russell and La Trobe streets before making their way down Swanston St to Flinders St.
Earlier, union heavyweight John Setka faced criticism for a “vile” and “deeply offensive” tweet comparing the federal government to Nazi Germany.
The CFMEU secretary tweeted a series of quotes this morning, including one attributed to Martin Luther King Jr: “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”
VicRoads said the crowd has dispersed and all lanes had been reopened at the corner of Swanston and Flinders streets.
Yarra Trams said all services had resumed along their normal lines following the earlier disruption, with Route 30 and City Circle trams now running.
“Delays may occur as we restore normal frequency,” they tweeted.
Premier Daniel Andrews, who joined union members — along with his ministers Martin Pakula, Gavin Jennings, Tim Pallas and Ben Carroll — for the march, said they were rightly worried that “everything is going up except your pay”.
“There is a real imbalance between corporate profits and some of the pay rises, particularly in the private sector,” he said.
“There are many, many Victorians who are pretty well sick and tired of that complete imbalance.
“They work hard, they work harder than ever and they’re not getting rewarded for that work, they’re not being treated fairly … They want a better deal and they’re entitled to that.”
Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari said it was time workers took back the country.
Speaking at a rally, where he said there were 150,000 unionists in Melbourne, Mr Hilakari said the country was being “run by millionaires for billionaires”.
“Melbourne is a union town today comrades.
“Does Australia need a pay rise?” he added.
Mr Hilakari said 40 per cent of workers were in insecure work and 700 companies paid no corporate tax.
“These are our streets, this is our country.”
He urged unionists to vote out the Coalition federally and at the state election next month.
Electrical Trades Union secretary Troy Gray said the big banks were “p—– who had gouged working families”.
He said the top end of town had withheld pay rises to workers to boost its profits.
“They are taking the food off your table to line their pockets,” he said.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said she had a message for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Job and Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer “and the rest of the muppets”.
“We will not be intimidated, you cannot intimidate us,” she said.
“You will never defeat us.”
Ms O’Dwyer said Mr Setka’s tweet that compared the Coalition policies to Nazi Germany was “vile”.
“John Setka has done it again. His vile slur against the Federal Govt likening it to the Hitler regime is beyond repugnant. Will @billshortenmp condemn this or meekly condone it?”, the federal Coalition MP tweeted.
Ms O’Dwyer was not the only one outraged, with Melbourne’s Jewish community criticism led by Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich, who has demanded an apology.
“While John Setka is of course entitled to criticise the government’s action and policy, it is inexcusable to equate Hitler’s evil deeds that led to the extermination of six million Jews and millions of others to any current legislative actions so as to simply to score a political point,” he told the Herald Sun.
“When will public figures understand that such deeply offensive and inappropriate references cheapen and trivialise the Holocaust and the suffering of the survivors, and diminish the incredible courage shown by our diggers who gave their lives to vanquish the Third Reich. “We call on him to apologise and to refrain from using such rhetoric in the future.”
Earlier, Ms McManus was confronted with Mr Setka’s controversial tweet on 3AW this morning.
“Really, all I can say about that is that those quotes all relate to the fact that sometimes you do have situations — like you hear what your minister is saying, if people attend these rallies, that she’s threatening them with being fined. In what type of country do we fine people for attending political protests?” Ms McManus said.
A statement from the Fair Work Ombudsman said employers had to deduct a minimum of four hours in wages from the employee, when the industrial action was unprotected.
“Please be aware that if an employee fails to attend the workplace or stops work without authorisation from their employer, this conduct may be unprotected industrial action,” the statement read.
Ms McManus confirmed on air it was a political, rather than industrial, rally.
“It’s a political rally, it’s aimed directly at the federal government,” she said
The Australian Council of Trades Union organised the mass rallies in Melbourne and Sydney to change the workplace relations rules.
Union leaders say that wage growth has stagnated and the march was to send a message to federal politicians to help bring back balance to the system and get workers fair pay rises.
The rally closed Lygon, Victoria and Swanston streets, and disrupted public transport.
Yarra Trams said route 86 and 96 trams in both directions had resumed following the earlier disruption.
Buses along Lonsdale St were also affected in both directions.
Extra transport staff were called in to help passengers get where they needed to go, a Public Transport Victoria spokesman said.