Christine

Every day unions support members who have been sexually harassed at work According to the Australian Unions survey undertaken in 2018, two in three women and one in three men have experienced sexual harassment. There is a plan to make work safer, especially for women. The landmark Australian Human Rights Commission Respect@Work report has 55 recommendations to create stronger rights to eliminate sexual harassment. The Federal Government sat on this report for over a year before it was forced to act . A Bill was put before the Parliament, cherry-picking some recommendations but ignoring the very ones that would make the [...]

Equal Pay Day this year will be marking the 61 additional days from the end of the previous financial year that women must work to earn the same pay as men. In 2020, the number of additional days was 59. What Is Equal Pay Day? Equal Pay Day marks the additional days from the end of the previous financial year that women, on average, must work to earn the same as men earnt on average that year. It is a symbolic day that helps to raise awareness of the barriers women face in accessing the same financial rewards for their work [...]

The IEUA has made submission into the Quality Initial Teacher Review; particularly highlighting that quality initial teacher education cannot be supported in a situation where staff and schools are considerably time poor and struggling with inadequate resources Background Instead of engaging with IEU members on the issues significantly impacting the profession, the Federal Government has once again sought to make political gain from education policies. On 11 March 2021, the Hon Alan Tudge MP, Australian Government Minister for Education and Youth, delivered a speech which announced his intention to launch a review looking at the next evolution of reforms to initial [...]

Though the 21 June 2020 represents the 12 month anniversary of the ILO Convention on the Elimination of Violence and Harassment at Work, the Federal Government is yet to take any steps towards its ratification.  Background Last year, this ground breaking convention was successfully negotiated and adopted overwhelmingly at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva.   The two-year negotiation included ACTU and other world trade unions, ILO member governments and employer organisations. The ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 206 established for the first time an international standard to prevent and eliminate violence and harassment at work.  It places obligations on governments to [...]

20 June 2020 is World Refugee Day On this day, IEU members call attention to the plight of those fleeing conflict or persecution and remind governments that all people seeking asylum are entitled to the full range of human rights and protections. World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees and asylum seekers. It acknowledges the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. Currently, there are at least 70.8 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their home. [...]

The COVID 19 pandemic is deepening pre-existing inequalities, exposing vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems. The year 2020 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action and was intended to be ground breaking for gender equality.  Instead, the spread of COVID -19 pandemic has placed at risk the limited gender equity gains that had been made in the past decades. Pandemics and their resulting economic shocks affect men and women differently Emerging evidence on the impact of COVID 19 suggests that women’s economic and productive lives are affected disproportionately and differently from men. Across the globe, women earn [...]

On 16th May 2020, IEUA will join with the international education community to celebrate the essential role of Education Support Staff Education Support Staff undertake vital and varied roles in our schools, from administrators to librarians and student learning aides. The work of education support staff greatly enhances and supports quality education and has proven to be particularly important during the demanding times caused by  the  COVID 19 pandemic On 16th May, the IEUA calls upon all non government school employers to Respect Recognise and Reward education support staff in their schools