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National education and union news
Investing in women could generate billions annually
An estimated $111 billion can be generated every year by cutting gender inequality at work by half, according to a new report from the ACTU.
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The Delivering Equity for Women at Work report explains that another 893,000 women would be in the workforce if they were able to participate at the same rate as men.
Even if just half that number were supported to get into work, they would earn an extra $26 billion each year.
Due to the gender pay gap, men earn $472 more each week than women (on average). If that gap was cut in half, women would take home an additional $85 billion.
With the participation and pay gap halved, $111 billion would be generated for women’s economic security and our national income.
The barriers preventing this are the significant and unequal care burden on women, the undervaluation of their work, and discrimination and harassment at work.
To make progress in removing these barriers the report makes 14 recommendations. These include:
• Increase paid parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks and map out a path to lifting it to 52 weeks by 2030. Leave should be offered on a shared basis between parents, with incentives to drive equal parenting. Superannuation must be paid on all leave.
• Take steps to progressively make early childhood education and care free and accessible. Increases to childcare subsidies planned for 1 July 2023 must be brought forward to 1 January 2023, to relieve cost-ofliving pressures on families and enable more workers to fill critical skill shortages.
• Establish a National Care Compact to address the crisis facing workers in the care economy, including aged care, early childhood education and care, disability support and other social services. The care compact should make the care economy a great place to work by addressing pay, job security, workloads, skills and career progression and work health and safety.
• Introduce multi-employer bargaining which will also increase access to bargaining for many feminised industries like childcare, aged care and cleaning, where lack of access to enterprise bargaining has suppressed wages.
ACTU President Michele O’Neil said Australia had the second worst government-funded paid parental leave scheme in the developed world. “In 2022 women shouldn’t have to give up on having a family and men shouldn’t miss out on being involved in raising their kids because paid parental leave is insufficient,” she said.
“Early childhood education and care will pay for itself by women being able to work and pay tax. Bringing it forward and eventually making it free should be a nobrainer.
“Multi-employer bargaining would give millions of workers, most of them women, meaningful access to bargaining for the first time. It will be a boost for wage growth generally, but especially for feminised industries where the current system has systemically suppressed wages.
“Australia can generate $111 billion by increasing women’s workforce participation. We can fix the skills shortage if we take action to support women to win well paid and rewarding jobs and careers. There may be no greater measure to boost national productivity and economic growth than delivering respect and equity for women at work.
“Right now, women are leaving the industry in droves, but this sector could be a big source of secure, well-paid jobs in the future.”
Download the Delivering Equity for Women at Work report in full at bit.ly/3S0fq5W
TAFE funding win
The Australian Education Union has warmly welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement of 180,000 fee free TAFE places, made during his Jobs and Skills Summit opening address last month.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also announced that $1.1 billion in funding for the new places will be shared by the states, territories and the Commonwealth.
These new places come on top of the 465,000 fee free TAFE places announced prior to the 2022 federal election. “Australia is facing skills shortages across states and territories, and across industries. There is an urgent need for skilled workers to secure our economy now and into the long term,” AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said.
“In making this announcement at the start of his opening address, the Prime Minister has acknowledged the critical role TAFE plays in Australia’s vocational education and training system and placed it at the heart of the national jobs and skills agenda. “TAFE is the best place to ensure the workers we need gain the skills and knowledge required to fill workforce gaps.
“Across hundreds of campuses across Australia, TAFE provides high quality vocational education to thousands of students.
“With funding and investment, like that announced this morning, TAFE can continue to provide high quality vocational education to help Australia rebuild following the pandemic, address skills shortages in labour market and help ensure our future economic security.”
ACTU welcomes action on EBA terminations
The ACTU has welcomed the commitment from Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke to stop employers using the threat of EBA terminations as a bargaining tactic.
The practice of employers threatening to terminate existing agreements if workers refuse to sign on to a new EBA has exploded in recent years and has given employers immense power in the bargaining process.
This has occurred in universities, railways, factories, ports, airlines and hundreds of other workplaces across the country. ACTU Secretary Sally McManus (pictured) said using the threat of termination as a bargaining tactic was unacceptable.
“The law was never intended to operate this way and this loophole is being used and abused by bad employers,” she said.
“Allowing employers to threaten massive cuts to pay and conditions unless workers sign on to a new EBA is not a fair process.
“We need to fix our broken bargaining system so that it produces the wage growth working people and the economy needs to get back on track. This is one of the issues that needs to be addressed. “After a decade of inaction and neglect under the previous government it’s encouraging to see a government standing up for working people and doing what is needed to get wage growth moving again.”
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