No favours for working women under Labor
SP Newsletter No.204
International Women’s Day special edition.
Australia is one of only two advanced capitalist countries in the world not to provide a government funded paid maternity leave scheme for women. The other is the United States.
Only around a quarter of women workers in Australia have access to paid maternity leave and this is mostly because of trade union negotiated agreements at an enterprise level.
Some public employees are offered only two weeks paid maternity leave and many state based awards only offer around six weeks paid leave. While this may vary from state to state, it is appalling to see that a full time worker can legally be given as little as two weeks paid leave to have a baby and adapt to all the changes that this brings to someone’s life.
To compound the problem, Australia also has one of the highest rates of casualisation in the world, at over 27%. It is not surprising that the majority of casual workers are also women. That is, the majority of working women do not receive any maternity leave whatsoever! This also means many women workers never receive basic entitlements that full time workers receive such as sick pay, and holiday pay or job security.
The eleven and a half year reign of conservative Prime Minister, John Howard made sure the issue of paid maternity leave was off the political agenda. Howard argued that such a plan would be too expensive. Apart from putting dollars before the well being of women and working families, his arguments also stemmed from his belief that women should be subordinate to men in society and that working men should be responsible for supporting their partners - not the state. Howard saw the ‘nuclear family’ as the cornerstone of capitalist society.
In order to divert attention way from the issue Howard was forced to introduce some changes to family tax benefits. He passed these changes off as reforms but in reality they were counter reforms that disadvantaged many low paid women if they chose to return to work.
There is a great deal of hope amongst workers that the new Labor government of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard will treat working women much better. In fact in recent weeks Labor has put the issue of paid maternity leave back on their agenda. This comes as it was quietly dumped before last year’s national conference.
While Labor said they remained committed to parental leave (unpaid), its historically explicit support for publicly funded paid maternity leave was removed from its platform. But during the election campaign Labor were under some pressure from women’s groups to revive the issue.
They have now announced a ‘productivity commission’ inquiry into paid maternity leave to make recommendations as to what may be appropriate. As yet, there is no timeline for the end of this inquiry but it is not expected until next year at the earliest.
Labor has made it very clear that they will not implement anything that will be bad for business. They also want to ensure that those employers that do currently offer some paid maternity leave will not be encouraged to start relying on the government to take over the funding of these arrangements.
This leaves little confidence that there will be any serious attempt by Labor to implement a publicly funded paid maternity leave scheme in the short term. In fact this self proclaimed ‘fiscal conservative’ government will move to reduce public spending in the next period as they try to avoid the backlash from a world economic downturn.
The Socialist Party believes that all women should have the right to choose if and when they want to have children without worrying about how they will be economically affected. Women should also be able to choose if and when they return to work.
It is clear that the difference between Howard and Rudd is more of style rather than substance and we can not expect Labor to voluntarily give us anything. As with every advance in workers wages or conditions nothing will be handed over without a fight. Paid maternity leave will only be won by waging a united campaign that involves women’s groups, trade unions, community groups and progressive political parties.
It is only by also fighting for system change will we be able to ensure that these reforms are permanent and thus result in real choice and equality for working women.
International Women’s Day pamphlet
International Women’s Day is when the struggles and achievements of working class women world-wide are celebrated. This year, the CWI has prepared a special pamphlet particularly on abortion rights since, in many countries, there is a new offensive against them.
To read the pamphlet online visit:
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2008/03/02women.pdf
Socialist Party regional activity-
Victoria
SP Melbourne Branch
This week the Melbourne Branch of the Socialist Party will be having a discussion on the weakness of the theory of State Capitalism. The meeting will be held at 7pm on Wednesday March 12 @ Trades Hall, corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets Carlton. All members should try to attend.
Socialism 2008 - A day of discussion on a world in crisis!
The Socialist Party will be holding our annual Socialism event on the weekend of March 14 & 15 at Trades Hall in Melbourne. Our special guest for the event will be Pakistani socialist and trade unionist, Khalid Bhatti.
Khalid is the National Organiser of the Trade Union Rights Campaign in Pakistan (TURCP) and the leader of the Socialist Movement Pakistan (SMP). He will report on the situation in Pakistan, post the election, and talk about the Middle East and the War on Terror. Khalid will also be meeting with many labour movement leaders and activists whilst he is in town.
This event will also discuss all the main issues facing workers and young people in 2008. If you have an interest in revolutionary politics or want to find out more about the Socialist Party this event must not be missed!
The full agenda for the weekend is as follows-
Friday March 14th
7.00pm – 9.00pm – The Middle East and the War on Terror.
Speaker: Khalid Bhatti (Pakistani socialist & trade unionist)
Saturday March 15th
10.00am – 11.30am – World economy on the brink! Will China save Australia?
Speaker: Stephen Jolly (SP Councillor)
11.45am – 1.15pm - Environmental challenges in the 21st century.
Speaker: Kylie McGregor (SP)
2.00pm – 3.30pm – The future of the unions under Rudd.
Speakers: Dave Kerin (Union Solidarity), Anthony Main (UNITE)
3.45pm – 5.15pm – France 68: 40th anniversary of the biggest general strike ever!
Speakers: Khalid Bhatti (SMP) and Denise Dudley (SP)
Raffle
In order to pay for the costs of bringing over our Pakistani guest we have organised a special raffle. Tickets are $10 and the prizes are $400 first prize, $200 second prize and $100 third prize. It will be drawn on Saturday March 15 at Socialism.
To purchase some raffle tickets or to get a book of 5 on a sale or return basis contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.
Costs
Money raised from entrance fees to the event will go towards paying for our international guests travel costs as well as advertising and room hire costs. The entrance fees are very cheap considering the expenses.
For the entire event the costs are $30 high waged, $20 low waged and $10 unwaged. For a single session the costs are $5 waged or $2 unwaged.
Venue
The venue for the event is Trades Hall on the corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets in Carlton South (Melbourne). All meetings will be held in Meeting room 1 which is located on the ground floor. Enter via the Victoria Street entrance.
After the sessions finish on the Saturday evening we will get together in the Trades Hall Bar. To book or for more information contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.
New South Wales
To find out more about SP in Sydney contact Gary on 02 9728 7727.
To find out more about SP in Newcastle contact Samantha on 02 4968 1545.
Western Australia
To find out more about SP in Perth contact John on 08 9402 0728.
Rest of Australia
To find out more about SP anywhere else in Australia contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.
Join the Socialist Party
If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining SP. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.
We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system. We fight for socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction. For more info contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.
Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ newspaper!
Become a supporter of SP by subscribing to our monthly newspaper ‘The Socialist’. It only costs $20 per year or $10 concession and you will receive our paper delivered to your door every month. You will also receive our email newsletter every week and you will know that you are supporting an organisation that is at the fore of fighting against the capitalist system. To subscribe phone 03 9639 9111 or email our National Office.
The March edition is out now! Pick it up from one of our street stalls!
IWD news links just a click away –
Belgium: Building links of solidarity with Iranian women’s struggle
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2008/03/04belgia.html
Britain: Mark the inspirational struggle of women
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2008/03/04intera.html
Austria: Privatisation and social cuts affect women most
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2008/03/05intera.html
US: Ninety nine years since first women’s day
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2008/03/06intera.html
Get Active - Join the fight back, Get Militant - Join the Socialist Party.
The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). To contact or join the SP or the CWI anywhere in Australia, or the world, call +61 3 9639 9111 or email our National Office.
‘Workers of the world unite – you’ve got nothing to lose but your chains’
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