Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.

International Women's Day: Working women want safe, secure and fair employment

On International Women’s Day ,women demand back their lost wages and conditions.
March 2007 marks the anniversary of the IR laws that have seen workers, and women workers in particular, lose a host of wages and conditions. On this day women demand that their working rights be returned.
“For the first time in recent history the Australian Government has taken away wages and conditions that have been hard fought for by trade unions’, says Ellen Kleimaker, Victorian Trades Hall Council Women’s & Equity Officer.
“In Australia women workers are concentrated in a few industries which are often low paying, have higher numbers of insecure, casually-employed staff,  and are often un-unionised. These workers are particularly vulnerable and rely on the safety net that has been dismantled under these unjust laws.”
Women also do most of the unpaid work in the home as carers and raising children. This makes them much more reliant on predictable and flexible working hours.
“Women workers deserve equal pay, safe, secure, permanent full-time and part time work, predictable working hours, good balance of time spend at work, and with family and friends. Is this too much too ask?” Kleimaker says.  
“Apparently under the Howard government it is. With the introduction of the new industrial relation laws in March 2006 this safety net has been reduced by 75%. Already women who have to negotiate wages and conditions individually earn on average $5 less then men. Many have lost their penalty rates and the ability to work flexible and predictable hours. Spending time with family and friends is becoming a luxury that many Australians cannot afford.”
“We can’t help but worry about the future of our children. While we ourselves have inherited laws that gave us some protection at work we are leaving an industrial relations system for our children where exploitation is sanctioned.’
“Trade unions are also concerned that the full impact of the laws will take years to be felt which makes it crucial for Howard to be thrown out at the next election”.
International Women’s Day,
Thursday, 8 March 2007,
12.00 – 2.00pm,
GPO Bourke St Mall
From 12pm Deputy Opposition Leader, Julia Gillard, ACTU President Sharan Burrow, Eloise Southby-Halbish, May Kotsakis and Ann Taylor will be joined by other union and community leaders, fire fighters, nurses, teachers, manufacturing workers, finance workers and many others to demand the return of wages and conditions for working women.  
A new ACTU analysis of ABS data shows women in full time jobs now earn $100 a week less than men and that the pay gap for working women is getting wider.
Full time women now earn on average 10% less than men — the same gender pay gap as 1978, almost 30 years ago.
The ABS data also shows the real wages of female workers has fallen 2 per cent over the last 12 months.

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