IEU Women and Equity Report: WRAW facts
Unfortunately, we are seeing more dangerous student behaviour towards female staff in schools and inadequate responses from employers in dealing with these matters.
WRAW Chats
That’s why Women’s Rights at Work (WRAW) chats in workplaces are so important. They enable women and gender diverse members affected by inequity and gender violence to develop a plan of action. Holding a WRAW Chat in your workplace is an important first step in making sure your employer is meeting their obligations in providing you with a safe and equitable workplace, free of harassment.
Positive Duty
The IEU Victorian Tasmanian Women and Equity team is part of a bigger IEU Australia Women and Equity Committee which brings together groups from all the state branches of the IEU to pool resources around common issues. This committee has been working on a suite of resources to assist the union in engaging with members on changes to the Sex Discrimination Act and the advent of Positive Duty obligations. The Respect @ Work Act (2022) changes the Sex Discrimination Act (1984) to establish a positive duty to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. This means employers must take reasonable measures to make sure all staff feel safe and respected before something goes wrong. We can now hold employers responsible for the behaviour of the people in their workplaces and ensure they comply with their responsibilities. Talk to your Organiser about how this might help you make positive changes to your workplace so it is safe, inclusive, respectful and free from sex-based harassment.
Flexible Work
An amendment to the Secure Jobs Better Pay Act broadens the categories of employees who have the right to request a change to their working arrangements to include carers, people with disability, people 55 or over, people who are pregnant and those experiencing or assisting those experiencing family and domestic violence. If you need to make a request to change your days or hours of work to accommodate what is happening in your life, contact your organiser. Resources about changes to Pay Secrecy and Family and Domestic Violence Leave are coming. Read more about how these changes will benefit you in our next edition.
Tasmania ASMP and Women’s Conference
Several members participated in the Tasmanian Anna Stewart Memorial Project in August. As part of the program participants learn more about campaigning to win and this year they organised an action to support the Two years, too long IEU Tasmanian Catholic Campaign. It was great to see sisters from different unions campaigning to win equitable conditions for staff in Catholic schools.
The Unions Tasmania Women’s Conference took place on Friday 16 August, bringing women from a wide range of unions together to share ways to win equality in their workplaces.