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 Home Women
CHERYL MCGUIRECHAIR WOMEN’S COUNCIL AND PSA SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
Good morning and welcome to the 24th PSA Women's Conference. For those of you who don't know me I am Cheryl McGuire Chair of Women's Council and Senior Vice President of the PSA. The theme of our 24th conference is "WOMENS RIGHTS AT WORK. WORTH FIGHTING FOR." We are also celebrating the 75th anniversary of Women's Council. When we first started to plan this years conference we thought the focus would be on 75 years of Achievement; the Federal Election happened and instead of looking back on what has changed and celebrating our achievements we now must look at what we stand to loose and put up our defences. I have been on an emotional roller coaster ride when thinking of the consequences of the IR legislation; when thinking of our achievements Elation, pride, satisfaction at what we have done; when thinking of the Federal Industrial Relations changes; sadness, anger and even at times despair of the future for our daughters and sons. Before I talk more on these I will report on Women's Council for the past year. WOMEN'S COUNCIL Women's Council continues to meet on nine occasions within the year... In accordance with the Women's Council by-laws, every woman member of the Association is a member of Women's Council and you are welcome to attend Women's Council. Our meeting dates are published in Women @ Work. During the year we have had a number of guest speakers including Cathy Bloch from Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA, Mary Yaager, Unions NSW, Dez Karlsson from the Fairwear NSW Campaign, Julie Gordon Sue Hammond from the CPSU/SPSF Federal Office. The current Women's Council Management Committee was elected in September last year. The current list of elected delegates to Women's Council are in your Conference Bags. I would like to now introduce our President Sue Walsh, the Women's Council Steering Committee and the Women's Unit staff. Sue Walsh, PSA President
Vice Chair: Darriel Pring
(RTA - Wollongong)
Current staff in the Women's Unit are: Thank you to Susan CheeQuee and Stephanie Cunio in the Training Unit for their assistance with conference preparations and presentation. Also special thanks to Atosha McCaw and Helen Richardson in the Communications Unit for their work in designing and organising the production of most of the goodies in your Conference Bags. We successfully delivered yet another benchmark Women's Conference in 2004 with 250 attendees. Thank you for the feedback. We were on such a high after the conference we immediately started to plan for this year. During the year we have continued to deal with a range of employment issues in particular: Increased paid maternity leave in the NSW public sector from 9 weeks to 14 weeks with 1 weeks paid partner leave. In the university sector we have gained 36 weeks paid maternity leave at the University of Sydney. The PSA continues to lead the field in improved conditions for maternity and adoption leave. In January this year we established the Equity Liaison Group with the Premiers Department. This group meets to discuss issues effecting women's employment across the Public Sector. The PSA representatives to this group are Sue Walsh, Anne Kennelly and I. The PSA with Unions NSW has been negotiating with the Public Employment Office to develop a public sector wide bullying policy. The PSA continues to be successful in a number of very sensitive workplace discrimination issues Workplace flexibility to manage work and family, in particular returning to work part time after maternity leave continues to cause problems for many members. The PSA is negotiating with the Public Employment Office to have Clerical Officers become part of the Crown Employees (Administrative and Clerical) Award The PSA continues to deliver the highly popular Women in the Union training courses. And of course Women @ Work remains as popular as ever and I would like to acknowledge again Atosha McCaw, Helen Richardson and Anne Kennelly for the new look and quality of the publication. WOMEN'S RIGHTS AT WORK WORTH FIGHTING FOR This years Women's Conference is one of the most important Conferences in recent years. Delegates to this Conference are only too aware of the serious fight that unionist are facing today to maintain a fair and just workplace for all Australians. On 1 July over 100,000 workers attended Sky Channel meetings across NSW to protest against the proposed changes. I trust that you were one of those people. The industrial relations changes proposed by the Federal Government are the most serious threat Australian workers have seen in the last 100 years. The abolition of awards and the downgrading of the Industrial Relations Commission will see many of the benefits that workers take for granted under threat. Some of these include:
Penalty and overtime rates, Wages are to be set by a body called the Fair Pay Commission thereby removing the role that the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has had over the last 100 years in setting wages. Australian workers will be increasingly pressured to sign Australian Workplace Agreements even if these agreements are less then their current award entitlements. The working conditions Australian workers have today are because of the campaigns unionists in the past have run to improve the working lives of Australians. PSA Women have always been at the forefront of these campaigns and have lobbied for changes for women. 75 years ago the women of this union formed the forerunner to our Women's Council, the Women's Auxiliary. At that time women were systematically discriminated against in their employment because they were women. Women were paid less than men, could not gain permanency in the public service if they were married, and of course there was no maternity leave. During the 1920's, pressure began to be placed on the PSA executive for more representation of women and women's issues within the PSA. However, it wasn't until a former PSA President, a Mr Flynn, made some comments at the Australia Public Federation conference in 1929, that a push for change commenced. Reported in the Sydney Morning Herald at the time, Mr Flynn allegedly stated, Fundamentally, women are not honest." The Herald report infuriated PSA women members. A huge meeting of women was subsequently organised by the women's clerical sub branch, where "the council room was crowded to overflowing and many women were unable to gain admittance. Not surprisingly, Mr Flynn declined to attend. A further meeting of women members was held in early 1930 where a resolution was carried requesting that the executive and council of the union change the rules at the 1930 Annual Conference to allow the formation of the Women's Auxiliary. The rule change was carried and the Women's Auxiliary was formed. Since the formation of the Women's Auxiliary working conditions and pay for women in the New South Wales public service have continued to improve. Women have gained equal pay for equal work, pay equity, paid maternity leave, protection from discrimination in the workplace, flexible working hours, part time work and carers leave. Many of the changes have happened in my working life. Women of my generation had to give up their jobs when they married and when they had children. I think those inspirational women in our PSA history; Jean Arnot and Millie Hoy would be pleased at what we built on their foundation. There are many women who have made a significant contribution to Women's Council over 75 years these contributions have culminated into the conditions we all enjoy today. These gains PSA women have fought for over 75 years are now under threat by the Federal government. WORK AND FAMILY
In early August the Industrial Relations Commission handed down what will probably be its last decision, the WORK AND FAMILY TEST CASE.
The outcomes of the decision are:
The PSA has been meeting with the Public Employment Office to flow on these conditions to our Award. Even though this is a recent decision the benefits many working families could gain as a result of this test case are also under threat by the industrial relations changes. When the Prime Minister was asked if this decision would be included as an allowable matter in AWA's he responded; 'these are matters between the employer and the employee''. RIGHTS AT WORK Over the next two days you will hear various women speak on how the proposed Federal Industrial Relations changes will affect you, your family and your friends. While what you will hear is truly shocking it is important to be vigilant and preserve our conditions of employment. I encourage you to become more involved in spreading the word about WHY YOUR RIGHTS AT WORK ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR. Please enjoy your two days at conference and I extend an invitation to join Sue and myself at the Athenian Restaurant for dinner. We have negotiated a special price of $30.00 for a feast to delight the pallet. Good food, good company and great conversation. Let Chrissie or Susan at the registration desk know if you wish to attend. Before I go I would like to share some exciting personal news with you I am going to be a grandmother again! THANK YOU |
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