Page 2426 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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The report found that none of the 14 women who were interviewed had experienced any improvements in their working lives since WorkChoices had been introduced last year. This is despite claims by the federal government that the new legislation will improve the lives and working conditions of working Australians.
The major impacts of WorkChoices for these women who work in the ACT are summarised as follows: no improvements to pay, other than through adjustments to minimum wages; when those adjustments take place, work loads frequently increase; loss of penalty rates and loadings; unilaterally imposed changes in shift arrangements and the hours of work; work intensification; lack of security at and about work; uncertainty about the new laws and the nature of employment agreements; reduced voice at work; new norms at work, with individualised, fearful and intimidated employees; and greater stress on individuals and relationships.
The ACT report was followed with the release of the national report, Women and WorkChoices: a study of the impact of regulatory reform, which similarly found WorkChoices was having a clear adverse effect on female workers across the country.
With our limited capacity to regulate the labour market here in the ACT and with our industrial relations regime being provided by the commonwealth, the ACT government continues to look at ways to soften the blow of these policies. We look forward to the coming federal election and hope that we will see a winding back of these changes and therefore an improvement to the conditions that vulnerable women in the ACT are working under.
MR GENTLEMAN: I ask a supplementary question. Minister, what is the ACT government doing to address these needs?
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Mr Gentleman. As I said, with our limited capacity to legislate around industrial relations matters we have looked at other ways to support women and, in particular, support women into work. One initiative which we are developing is the return to work grants of $1,000 for 200 women who are returning to work after having a child.
This program is deliberately targeted to assist women who are not eligible for other commonwealth or territory employment assistance programs. The grants will be available for women who are Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, women who are young or women who are on a low income. The grants can be used to support women to attend short courses, pay for childcare to attend interviews, as well as more formal training or education.
Grants may also provide support for transport costs or the purchase of equipment, clothing or textbooks directly related to a woman’s return to work. We are trying to make these grants as flexible as possible to be able to encourage a high uptake of the grants program, but also each woman needs something a little different and may have her own car and, therefore, would prefer to spend the money on the cost of a training course. Women who may have childcare arrangements may decide to spend the money on the purchase of equipment to support their training, or to buy clothes which are suitable for interviews or for working in the workplace once they get a job.
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