Fair and safe workplaces, access to parental and carer leave provisions, flexible arrangements such as job share, and addressing barriers to career development and leadership opportunities are important priorities for the Union.
Unfortunately, the IEU has received recent reports of some employers in both the Catholic and independent sectors denying or resisting requests for flexible work arrangements after parental leave.
The IEU will support its members in such situations and will also pursue these concerns with employers, citing the Fair Work Act, the Workplace Gender Equality Act, anti-discrimination legislation or published employer policy where appropriate.
Concerns have also arisen where employers have made statements to the effect that only full-time teachers can have HSC classes or only full-time counsellors can work in secondary schools, thereby impacting on the staff who work part time because of family responsibilities.
Under the provisions of both the previous Equal Employment Opportunity for Women in the Workplace legislation and the 2012 Workplace Gender Equality Act, the IEU has sought to work with Catholic diocesan employers via equal opportunity (EO) or workplace gender equity (WGE) committees to ensure compliance with that Act and other relevant legislation and to highlight issues such as work and family, preventing harassment and bullying, and identifying and eliminating any gender based obstacles to career satisfaction and progress.
For example, at the most recent meeting of the Wollongong Diocese’s WGE Committee, the agenda included discussion of WGE Agency reporting, pregnancy and return to work issues, the emergence of eldercare as a reason for use of carer’s leave, mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, and women’s career development and access to leadership roles in primary schools.
In the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese, the committee has recently been developing a new Flexible Working Arrangements Policy, which covers the legislative and policy framework in areas such as part time and job share. The IEU acknowledges the document’s stated commitment to “reasonably accommodating a worker’s need for flexibility” and its reference to Catholic social teaching in relation to human dignity and equality.
At Sydney CEO’s Workplace Equity meeting on 6 November, agenda items included WGE Agency reporting and compliance, teacher exchange policy in the Archdiocese and White Ribbon Day.
In the Broken Bay Diocese, a WGE flyer has been produced as well as two papers prepared in conjunction with the reporting process: Principles for Recruitment and Selection of School and CSO Employees in the Broken Bay Diocese and Supporting Gender Equality in Broken Bay. At the Term 3 meeting there was discussion of the development of online modules for anti-bullying and harassment training.
Some diocesan WGE committees such as Bathurst, Wagga Wagga and Wollongong also liaise with the IEU around the commemoration of International Women’s Day in March each year.
As reported at this year’s IEU AGM, the annual diocesan Women and Equity ‘report card’ for 2014 noted that some diocesan committees such as Armidale and Lismore were apparently not meeting on a regular basis and it is hoped that such meetings can resume in 2015.
The IEU thanks those members and officers who serve on diocesan WGE committees for their efforts to advance workplace equity and inclusion. As the recent Catholic sector dispute has shown, while many gains have been made over the years, vigilance is required to ensure that these are protected and enhanced.