Media Release 17 November 2005

I.R. CHANGES WILL BE WORST FOR VULNERABLE WOMEN

Women's Health West staff marched this week in the national community protest rally against the Federal Government's proposed industrial relation changes.

"The proposed 'Workchoices' legislation promises to be the greatest step backwards for women's equality in the past century," says Robyn Gregory, Manager of Health Promotion, Research and Development for Women's Health West.

"While the changes will have a devastating impact on the rights and living standards of many Australians, they will be worse for women," says Dr Gregory, "Particularly those who have less power in the workplace to negotiate better wages and conditions for themselves because they are poor, sole parents, have a disability, or experience racism or other forms of discrimination."

"Many women in the Western Region are vulnerable to falling pay or conditions, and to greater job insecurity due to this legislation," says Dr Gregory. "Our region already scored lowest in Australia on the 2000 ABS Index of Relative Disadvantage. This legislation can only worsen women's poverty."

So critical is the threat to the future wellbeing of women in the Western Region that the Women's Health West Board of Management gave its blessing to staff marching in the record-breaking rally on Tuesday 15 November. They marched with a specially-made banner reading: "IR attacks: bad for all, worse for women".

"Women are over-represented in casual and part-time employment, positions that are already often lower-status, lower-paid and have limited prospects for promotion," says Dr Gregory. "Women with children under 15 make up 61 percent of the part-time workforce. Women - particularly migrant women and women with a disability - are also over-represented in unskilled or semi-skilled occupations. It is these groups of workers who will have least protection under the proposed changes."

Women's Health West is very concerned about the impact of individual workplace agreements. "Equal pay is already a myth," says Dr Gregory. "Even under collective agreements, women working full time earn just 84.7 cents in the male dollar - 65.3 cents when part-time and casual workers are included. Women workers have less power than men to negotiate better pay and conditions. We see this in the statistics for women workers who are now on individual Australian Workplace Agreements, who already earn 11 percent less than those on collective agreements."

The Western Metropolitan Region is one of the most multicultural in Australia, with a high proportion of newly-settled migrants who entered Australia on humanitarian visas. New migrants, particularly refugees, suffer chronic ill-health and social isolation. "Health issues and language barriers, as well as limited access to childcare, education and training make it very difficult for refugee women to find secure employment," says Dr Gregory. "Let alone to negotiate fair wages and conditions. Women with a disability often face similar challenges finding secure, decently-paid work. Combined with the recent 'welfare to work' changes, the IR changes will force women into low-paid, insecure employment and greater poverty."

Women's Health West is also concerned about the impact on families and children, with 'family friendly' conditions likely to remain out of reach for most women workers. "In the past 10 years the workforce has moved away from awards to collective agreements," says Dr Gregory. "Ironically the 'flexibility' this allowed has resulted in male workers having more access to family-friendly leave than women workers, and non-mothers more than mothers."

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