australian services union

The Shift with Shaye – We Won’t Wait

December 14, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

This week Shaye sit down with Natalie Lang (Secretary, Australian Services Union) to discuss the We Won’t Wait campaign.

In Australia a woman dies every week because of family and domestic violence.

Family and domestic violence is the leading cause of death, disability and illness among women aged 15-44 years, greater than cancer or heart disease.

And yet access to paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave is limited. Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave means a woman can access support services so she can leave. It means she can attend court, doctor appointments, meet with real estate agents, change her children’s school, all without the fear of losing her job.

Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave will save lives. The estimated cost of introducing a minimum 10 days’ paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave in the National Employment Standards is just five cents per day per worker. And the estimated cost of family and domestic violence to the economy is $12.6 billion per year.

The Federal Government must act. We won’t wait. We can’t wait. Join us in our calls to have Family Domestic Violence leave for all workers in the National Employment Standards. Take action now and sign the petition;
www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/we-w…men-can-t-wait

Looking for Support or Counselling?
Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia
Domestic Violence Impact Line
1800 943 539

FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESOURCES
www.asumembers.org.au/fdv

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association · The Shift with Shaye_We Won’t Wait

“Stop blaming workers for vaccine failures”: unions and providers tell Govt

July 8, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

Aged care providers and the union movement have united to reject the current blame shifting on vaccination, saying it is government failures that have caused low vaccination rates, not workers.

Providers and unions have been calling for fast action on vaccinating workers within the high-risk sector for at least six months, however the government’s aged care vaccine program has too often led to disappointment, frustration, confusion and anger.

The Australian Aged Care Collaboration – a coalition of peak organisations for aged care employer groups – has joined with the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, Australian Workers Union, United Workers Union, Health Services Union, Australian Services Union and the Australian Council of Trade Unions to demand that the Morrison Government implement the five following principles into a rollout strategy that will support aged care workers to be vaccinated quickly and safely using the Pfizer vaccine only:

Ensure client, resident and worker safety
Government funded workplace vaccination and prioritised access to vaccination providers near workplaces
Paid leave to access vaccinations and recover from effects or reactions if needed
Targeted vaccine education and communication
Transparency and accountability on vaccine data and supply

ANMF Federal Secretary, Annie Butler, said that the group was “angry that the Government is trying to blame workers for its own failure to manage the COVID-19 vaccination rollout both in aged care and across the community”.

“The Government has not been able to deliver on its own strategy, which prioritised aged care workers as the highest priority, and is now using a ‘smoke and mirrors’ game to pin the responsibility on the worker. But as we’ve seen with the latest COVID outbreak in NSW, the vaccine roll-out in privately-run aged care facilities is not a game. It is completely serious,” she continued.

Aged care workers were told at the beginning of 2021 that they were first priority and would receive easy access to the vaccine in their workplace. This did not happen.

Both unions and aged care providers insist that the only way to improve vaccine pick up is to make it easy for workers, not to shame them.

“The Government must finally listen to workers, their unions and providers – and act on our recommendations,” Ms Butler said.

A core union belief becomes an entitlement that saves lives

September 3, 2019 by Rayan Calimlim

When the ‘We won’t wait’ campaign started, one Australian state had family violence leave. Now every state and territory has this life-saving entitlement.

“What are the principles of the trade union movement? They are unity and solidarity. We believe in safety and inclusion. We believe in equality. We believe in justice. We believe in respect. We believe in human dignity,” NSW Australian Services Union (ASU) secretary, Natalie Lang put to NSWNMA annual conference.

“They aren’t values that you pick up once we clock on at work but we forget about when we clock off and go home.

“These values are fundamental to who we are as members of this great movement, the union movement. They travel with us at work, at home, and in society.”

The “We won’t wait campaign” – to achieve 10 days paid family violence leave for all workers in Australia – was an embodiment of these principles and values, she says.

There are stark, horrifying statistics that highlight the urgency of action on family violence:

One in three women will experience sexual or family violence in their life.
One woman a week is killed in Australia by a current or former partner.
800,000 workers are living with the pain and trauma of family violence.
Family violence is the leading preventable cause of death and disability in women aged 18 to 44.
Family violence costs our economy between 12 and 23 billion dollars every year.

The idea for a campaign for family violence leave by the union movement came from members of the ASU working in women’s services.

“It’s a workplace issue for them. Our members were saying there is only so much they can do when they are in a safe room at the courthouse with the woman who is trying to get an AVO or domestic violence order to protect her safety and her children’s safety, but her employer is on the phone telling her that she’s used up her sick leave and she needs to be back at work or she’s going to lose her job,” Natalie said.

“That’s where the ‘We Won’t Wait’ campaign came from. We won’t wait because women can’t wait. Wait until a safety order is put in place. Wait. Wait. Wait. Nobody should be told to wait when they are dealing with their safety and dignity and the safety and dignity of their children and family.”

The union movement has since argued that 10 days’ paid violence leave will allow women to remain employed and maintain their financial security.

“We know that when women remain in employment they have better prospects of being able to leave violence,” says Natalie.

“We also know that violence is incredibly expensive and time consuming to leave. On average it takes 6 attempts to leave violence. On average it takes 141 hours to undertake the necessities like finding safe accommodation, meeting with the bank, meeting with the school to make safe arrangements for children, making court and medical appointments.

“One hundred and forty one hours and $18,000. When you are already trying to leave violence and to live safely in the community you can’t be expected to lose your job and try to find the time and money to be able to do so.”

Unions worked together to win

Natalie says the union movement realised the only way to win paid family leave was if all unions worked together.

“We talked about a strategy to deliver it. We knew we needed to be able to influence not just the federal government but also every single government in Australia. So we decided we would try to target the Council of Australian governments.

“That if we could, one by one, get every state and territory government to meet their contribution by ensuring paid family leave for their workforce and in their systems we’d have a better chance of convincing a federal Liberal government.”

Unions agreed to a concentrated 16-day period of campaign activities by all unions.

“We had local activities based on geography as well as based on unions. We campaigned in regional and local communities across the country.

“People took selfies with selfie signs, we had morning teas at workplaces, we had rallies, we had marches and we had lobbying delegations.

“There were nurses, teachers, women’s services workers and police officers. We had frontline workers who intersect in all the gamut of services that people with violence need to interact with.”

Embedded in National Employment Standards

When the ‘We Can’t Wait’ campaign started only one Australian state – Victoria – had paid family violence leave. Now every state and territory government, including NSW, has paid family violence leave for its workers.

“We also have family violence leave in the National Employment Standards. Now, who would have thought that the current Liberal-Coalition government would amend the National Employment Standards to include an extra entitlement?”

Natalie says the leave in the National Employment standards is unpaid but “we won’t rest until that becomes 10 days’ paid leave. So this campaign absolutely continues”.

“Paid family leave is an entitlement that does and will save lives. It is also core on what we are  as unionists.”

Take action to end violence – 16 Days of Activism

November 30, 2018 by Nurse Uncut Editor Leave a Comment

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association and Nurse Uncut proudly support the 16 Days of Activism from 25 November to 10 December, to raise awareness for global action on violence against women and girls.

More than 70,000 Australians (calls and online) seek support from 1800RESPECT each year— the national sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling service—which highlights the prevalence of sexual assault, domestic and family violence

The campaign runs from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day.

Of the people contacting 1800RESPECT, more than 10 per cent contact the counselling and referral service more than once seeking support.

1800RESPECT General Manager, Nicole McMahon says that 1800RESPECT highly qualified councellors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide support and people can contact the service as many times as they need. There is no limit to the amount of time that they can speak to a counsellor.

“Many people experiencing violence are in complex situations over varying periods of time and 1800RESPECT is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year,” Ms McMahon said.

1800RESPECT are inviting the important services that provide support to people experiencing violence to order 1800RESPECT promotional materials for their 16 Days events.

“1800RESPECT also sees Australians reach out and ask for information on how they can support friends, family and co-workers who might be experiencing or at risk of sexual assault, domestic and family violence,” Ms McMahon said.

“We encourage community groups, businesses and employers to contact us so that we can give them supportive resources,” Ms McMahon said.

Materials are designed to raise awareness about the 1800RESPECT service and to connect women experiencing violence to support, and include referral cards, information leaflets, posters and stickers. The materials can be ordered via the 1800RESPECT website.

This year, 1800RESPECT is highlighting the 16 Day campaign through a webinar, for workers and professionals on recognising and responding to image-based abuse.

Presented by researchers Dr Asher Flynn, Monash University, and Dr Nicola Henry, RMIT University, the webinar will provide an overview of the prevalence and impacts of image-based abuse, as well as the current legal and non-legal responses available to those who have experienced image-based abuse in Australia.

The confidential 1800RESPECT service provides information, referrals and counselling for people experiencing or at risk of violence, their friends and family, workers and professionals supporting someone experiencing, or at risk of violence.

The free service is available to anyone in Australia, via telephone and online chat. The 1800RESPECT service supports people with diverse needs and backgrounds, our counsellors can connect to interpreters and the National Relay Service when needed.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au In an emergency, call 000.

You can watch 1800Respect’s video for the 16 Days of Activism here.