Women members of the PSA have received or are about to receive voting papers for the Women’s Council elections for electorates where there are more candidates than positions.
PSA Women’s Council is an advisory and campaigning group of women PSA delegates which is elected each two years by PSA women members. Women’s Council has worked successfully to advance causes such as pay equity, paid parental leave, protection against the victims of domestic violence and many more issues. Past elections to Women’s Council not have been driven by internal PSA factionalism. That appears to have changed with the Women’s Council election currently being conducted.
Anonymous factional emails have been appearing in Women’s Council electorates where the ballot is being contested. The emails are individually addressed to seemingly thousands of PSA women at their work address. The emails support faction based teams of candidates who belong to either the “Rank and File or “Members First” groups. These emails come from spam-like email addresses such as rankandfile@iinet.net.au. They contain attachments or web links to “How to Vote” documents apparently authorised by PSA Executive members such as Sue Walsh (PSA President) and Shane O’Brien (PSA Assistant General Secretary). These individuals happen to be leaders of the “Rank and File” and “Members First” factions respectively.
Candidates who do not belong to the factions mentioned above are placed last in the list of candidates in these glossy, professionally produced “How to Vote” leaflets. Supporters of the two factions mentioned appear to have been given preferential treatment in the provision of election information normally available to all candidates. Clearly some candidates had access to PSA member’s contact details, lists of the other candidates’ names, sample ballot papers and the order of candidates on the ballot paper while others did not.
While the “How to Vote” leaflets claim that no PSA ‘funds used to produce or distribute this leaflet’ this is contradicted by numerous reports of PSA staff distributing these factional materials.
PSA women should beware of anonymous spam-like emails and give serious consideration to voting for the candidates NOT advocated by the emails mentioned above. Contact the candidates in your electorate and ask serious questions about the behaviour described above. Make up your own mind who is best placed to represent your interests at Women’s Council. Most importantly be sure to vote and encourage other PSA women members to vote.
How the PPSA recommends women to Vote
NB The following is the order of preferences but not the order of names as they appear on the ballot papers. The Progressives are recommending a vote for candidates who work closely with us as well as some who simply want to see Women's Council to be non-factional - as does the PPSA. What you see below is not strictly the names of members of a "PPSA ticket".
ELECTORATE 1 (Two representatives to be elected)
Supporters of the Progressives in Universities can find out about Women's Council candidates Michelle Price and Katie Callanan here.
ELECTORATE 5 (Three representatives to be elected
Housing and Business Link
1. Philippa Skinner
2. Rissie Martin
3. Tina Te Aho-Wilson
4. Michelle Bogatyrov
5. Annie McCabe
6. Maria Vainio
ELECTORATE 7 (Three representatives to be elected)
NSW Treasury, WorkCover Authority, Pillar Administration, Motor Accidents Auth, SAS Trustee Corp
1. Kerrie Kristidis
2. Nicole Scott
3. Keryn Barnett
4. Cassandra Coleman
ELECTORATE 9 (Eight representatives to be elected)
Ageing, Disability & Homecare
Community Services
Dept of Juvenile Justice
1. Belinda Sugden (Chair of Women's Council 2008-2010)
2. Sharny Whittaker
3. Renee Kinimaka
4. Heather Graham
5. Janelle Goodwin
6. Caroline Heads
7. Val McKinnon
8. Melinda Miante
9. Wynette Sheather
10. Heather Shields
11. Cheryl Griffiths
12. Pam Stein
13. Linda Barclay Hales
ELECTORATE 11 ( Four representatives to be elected)
Supporters of the Progressives in the Law related electorate( AGD, Legal Aid, DPP etc) can find out about Women's Council candidate Kirsten Cameron and other independents here.
ELECTORATE 15 (One representative to be elected)
Dept of Health
NSW Medical Board
Health Care Complaints Commission
Ministry for Science & Medical Research
1. M Jarosz
2. Westacott, Julie
ELECTORATE 17 (2 representatives to be elected)
DET Head Offices
1. Johnson, Sabrina (Women's Council delegate 2008-2010)
2. Anota, W.
3. Kearney, J.
4. Crawford, J.
ELECTORATE 19 (Four representatives to be elected)
Education and Training - TAFE
1. McLoughlin, Margaret
2. Nethery, Patricia
3. Blackwell, Lynette
4. Kelly, Patricia
5. Law, Sue
6. Kirkman, Debbie
Women in TAFE who support an independent Women's Council can find out who the Progressives support here.
The recommendations above do not constitute an official PSA publication under PSA Rule 82. Authorised by Margaret McLoughlin-Fullick and Adrianne Harris on behalf of PPSA and independent women.
UNSW brings Domestic Violence Clause to Enterprise Bargaining
Members of the UNSW PSA/CPSU Branch have introduced a historic clause into the 2010 round of enterprise bargaining. This clause, if agreed to, will be the first Enterprise Agreement in Australia that provides industrial support for people dealing with issues of domestic and family violence. The clause aims to introduce:
20 days paid leave;
Support at the workplace – e.g., security escorts, changing phone numbers, not being listed in the phone directory and access to a workplace employee assistance provider;
Training for Human Resource practitioners on how to deal with the issue.
The aim of the clause is to help people dealing with domestic violence keep a job and to deal with the impact of domestic violence.
The UNSW PSA/CPSU Branch hosted a public forum on Thursday 14 March to introduce the clause to university management and to discuss the impact of domestic and family violence on people in the workplace. The forum was attended by the Executive Director, UNSW University Services, Tanya Plibersek (Minister for the Status of Women), Elizabeth Broderick (Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner) and Ged Kearny (Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation and next President of the ACTU). Speaking at the forum Branch Vice President, Adrianne Harris said “it’s vital our enterprise agreements deal with issues such as domestic violence, so all employees can access assistance when and if required and feel less pressure to resign.”
The clause will be discussed during the next enterprise bargaining meeting.
The Progressive PSA supports the development of clauses for industrial instruments that mean that people don’t have to leave their life at the gate before entering the workplace. We congratulate the delegates and members for their work in developing this proposal.
See article in an ABC news report.
Pay gap grows
November 05 In the year to August 05 full time average male earnings rose 6.5% to $1081.80 a week but female earnings only grew 5.7% to $912.20 ie 84% of men's pay. This is a set back from what has been a slow decade long climb from 82% to 85%. These figures only deal with full-time workers, the situation is worse if the effect of women's over-representation in lower-paid part-time positions is considered. See our Wage Watch page for similar stories.
Women on AWAs get 11% less
Women employed under Australian Workplace Agreements are paid 11 per cent less, on average, than if they were on an award and almost half have no entitlement to annual leave, a Senate inquiry has been told (SMH November 2005).
IR changes bad for equal pay and gender equity
Meg Smith has analysed the implications for equal pay and gender equity of Howard's IR plans. What is at stake, she says, are the institutional measures required to guarantee women's economic independence. Unchecked, low wages and the undervaluation of feminised work means successive waves of lost earnings, lower levels of savings and lower levels of superannuation. (August 2005)
ACTU wins enhanced family leave provisions
The ACTU has succeeded in securing up to 24 months unpaid parental leave after the birth of a child as a consequence of its Work and Family Test Case. The decision applies to federal awards. Unions NSW and the NSW Minister for Industrial Relations will ask the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to flow the decision on to NSW award employees (including most PSA members). The Commonwealth Government hasn't guaranteed that working families will have these rights in its proposed new minimum employment conditions due to become law in October. The Commission has awarded the following new rights for employees that have carer responsibilities:
1. The right for employees to request up to 24 months unpaid parental leave after the birth of a child. This represents a doubling of the current 12 month entitlement.
2. The right for employees to request part-time work on their return to work from parental leave and before their children are at school.
3. A new Personal Leave entitlement that allows up to ten days of paid leave a year for the purpose of caring for family members or for family emergencies -- double the current five day provision.
4. A new right for all employees, including casuals, to take up to two days unpaid leave for family emergencies on each occasion such an emergency should arise.
5. A duty on employers to not unreasonably refuse an employee's request for extended parental leave or return to work part-time.
(August 2005)
SA wins big improvements to paid maternity leave
Members of our sister union in South Australia have won 12 weeks paid maternity leave through the state industrial relations commission. It is an 8 week improvement on their current arrangement and 3 times what the employer was offering. The case highlights one of the benefits of the state system. Under the Federal system the employer could make a 'take it or leave it' offer. (May 2005)
Tassie considers a year's unpaid leave
53,000 state award workers could be entitled to a year’s unpaid leave after the birth of their child if proposed changes to Tasmania's Industrial Relations Act are accepted. The proposal is contained in a discussion paper prepared as part of a review of the Act. It proposes that basic maternity or parental leave be included in the Act, with new mothers and their spouses entitled to the leave. The discussion paper also comments on the right of access to workplaces by unions, and the determination of casual, part-time and probationary employment. The discussion paper is available from the Department of Premier and Cabinet's Industrial Relations 03 6233 6687. Public comment on the discussion paper will be accepted until 31 August.
See also Public Servant seeks paid leave for fathers. "If we acknowledge some sort of paid parental leave for those first weeks
or days, it would go some way towards taking away the stereotype that
looking after children is women's business".
See also 1st bid for paid public service paternity leave fails
. The public servant argued that it was discriminatory for male State Service employees to not be be entitled to the 12 weeks' paid maternity leave that females have access to but the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal turned down his case on the grounds that the purpose of paid maternity leave was to safeguard the health of the mother both before and after birth.
See also the story Casuals win right to carer's leave and potentially long service leave.
Family payments still biased towards 'male breadwinner' households
The budget changes to family payments are an improvement on the failed baby bonus and designed to trump Labor's baby care payment. However they retain a disincentive for men to play a greater role in caring and for women to return to work. Family Tax Benefit Part B is not means-tested on the primary earner's income yet it starts to cut out as soon as the secondary earner, typically the mother, earns more than $1800 per year. For John Howard to move beyond his white picket fence view of families he needs to ditch Family Tax Benefit Part B.
Childcare, not benefits, help women participate in workforce says OECD study
An OECD working paper says child benefits decrease women’s participation in paid work but childcare subsidies, paid parental leave and the availability of part-time work increase women’s participation. Education, low unemployment and cultural attitudes were identified as the major determinants of female participation. The report analysed trends from 17 OECD countries, including Australia. The report argues that increasing the number of women in paid work would be the preferred way to improve gender equity, reduce poverty and address the ageing workforce.
ILO Guide Pregnancy and Work
The International Labor Organisation has produced a detailed guide on how to protect women workers during and after pregnancy. Healthy Beginnings: Guidance on Safe Maternity Work focuses on the handling of maternity in the workplace where a woman is working during pregnancy, has recently given birth, returning to work after pregnancy, and breastfeeding.
The guide contains checklists that you can use to identify hazards and workers most at risk. It will help you identify action needed to avoid the risks.
The Maternity Protection Recommendation 2000 (No. 183) replaces previous ILO Conventions and sets out minimum standards for workplace maternity and health protection such as 14 weeks’ maternity leave, cash benefits during leave of at least two-thirds of earnings, additional leave for pregnancy-related illness.
The Maternity Protection Recommendation 2000 (No. 191) gives provides details on health protection from Convention number 183. These include informing the woman worker of any risks to her own or her child’s health and avoiding compulsory night work where it presents a problem with pregnancy or breastfeeding. Click here for the Guide.
Work & Family Test Case
“Parents of pre-school children who want to work part time should not have to give up good full time jobs for insecure casual work,” said ACTU President Sharan Burrow as the ACTU lodged its Work and Family test case with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
The ACTU is seeking the following changes to federal industrial awards:
o the right to part-time work for full-time employees returning from parental leave;
o ‘buying’ six weeks extra leave through salary adjustments;
o the right to request more flexible hours;
o the right to emergency family leave; and
o extending unpaid parental leave from 12 months to 24 months.
Pay Equity Win
In a historic win the PSA has secured pay rises of up to 26% for Senior Library Technicians and 25% for Senior Librarians and Senior Archivists. The results of the pay equity case handed down on 28 March are a tribute to the work of the delegates committee. However the hard work isn't over yet. Negotiations with the employer will continue over the coming months before a final award is made.
See also the story from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Women & Work
To inform and foster the
debate on women and unions we are making the Discussion Paper from the
ACTU Congress 2000 on "Women and Unions" available. Their research shows:
-
Women now make up 40 per cent
of the Australian workforce, with 44 per cent of these employed part-time
and 32 per cent employed as casuals. Women make up 72 per cent of all part-time
workers and 62 per cent of casual workers.
-
Women earn two thirds of male
earnings. Even when part-timers are excluded, full-time female workers
earn 80 per cent of male earnings. Women earn 89 per cent of non-managerial
male full-time earnings and 91 per cent of base award or certified agreement
wage rates.
-
Twenty three per cent of female
workers are union members, compared to 28 per cent of men. While union
membership is declining for both genders, the rate of decline amongst women
in lower than that of men. Consequently, in August 1999 women made up 41.2
per cent of union members, up from 40 per cent in 1997.
-
A 1998 national survey of unions
found that women were under-represented at almost all levels of union structures.
Women were under-represented on 27 of 30 union federal executives, and
on 21 of 22 federal union councils, with a gender gap of 11 per cent.
Read the full paper at Women
and Unions - Discussion Paper - ACTU Congress 2000
Maternity
& Parental Leave
Maternity
Leave Investigation
Australia’s
Sex Discrimination Commissioner has commenced an investigation into paid
maternity leave. The investigation comes as the New Zealand Government
announced introduction of 12 weeks paid maternity leave.
View
the Australian Catholic University General Staff
Agreement
Women
& job security
Job security
was the number one electoral issue for working women according to an ACTU
survey. The survey of 1,100 women revealed that 45% of working women were
most concerned with job security, 39% with healthcare, aged care and community
services, and 38% with access to quality education. A further 24% highlighted
other job concerns including lack of promotional opportunities, the need
for flexible hours and job sharing, sub-standard casual and part-time working
conditions and inadequate redundancy and superannuation.
In
a major blow to the Howard government's assault on the industrial relations
system, the Federal Court has invalidated regulations under the Workplace
Relations Act (WR Act) saying that there is no evidence that unfair dismissal
laws inhibit employment. Read Big Win for Casuals
Women
employed in the NSW Public Sector
We reproduced a summary
of recent research on women in the public sector as a contribution to discussion
at PSA Women's Conference.
PSA Elections 2000
Around 54% of PSA
members are women yet only 40% of nominations for election to Central Council
were women (63 of the 157 nominations).*
Only the Progressive PSA
ensured their list had more than 50% female candidates. 16 of our 31
candidates were women: 52%. In the "winnable" first 15, 53% are women.
Our opponents, the "Rank
& File" & right wing "Members First" ran joint tickets
for some positions and had a preference swap for others which meant
that a vote for either of those tickets resulted in all three senior
paid positions being occupied by men.
One of those tickets had
just 36% (15 of 42) female candidates with only 27% in their first 15.
The other ticket had only 33% women with 27% in their first 15.
Follow these links for more
infomation about the 2000 PSA elections or
our how-to-vote in Word
format or PDF
format. Our next elections will be held in later this year (2004).
* As at 31 December 1999,
22,897 of the 42,343 financial members of the PSA were women.
In accordance with Rule 82
of the PSA Rules this is not an official document or statement of the Association
& was signed by Ian Jordan.
Progressive PSA
brings together rank and file trade union activists in the Public Service
Association of New South Wales and the CPSU (SPSF Branch).
We work for
-
improved and more
equitable pay
-
greater job security
- sustainable jobs in a sustainable environment
-
a democratic and
strong union
