On Tuesday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that weekend penalty rates were outdated, while six Liberal backbenchers told Fairfax Media that they should be reduced in sectors such as hospitality, retail and tourism to promote business growth and stimulate employment.

Tying in the new campaign with Anti-Poverty Week, UnionsACT is targeting the electorate of Eden-Monaro with a local blitz about the role of penalty rates in escaping poverty, its secretary Alex White said.

Teidi Chad, a nurse for 45 years, is the face of the campaign. In television advertisements, Ms Chad says that without penalty rates she would have needed welfare payments to help raise her three children.

The local blitz comes a week after the Australian Council of Trade Unions vowed to unleash a "fierce" grassroots and social media campaign against any attempt to cut penalty rates, which they said will be bigger than the Your Rights at Work campaign against John Howard's WorkChoices in 2007.

Mr White said one in three workers in Canberra and Queanbeyan rely on penalty rates.

"Often, it's the fact that people work on the weekend that means they can have any kind of quality of life," he said.

"Instead of trying to cut wages and reduce conditions in a race to the bottom, the federal government should aim to make Australia a high-wage, high-productivity nation."

UnionsACT represents 33,000 workers in the region.