Unions Tasmania seeks Tasmanian government cash for specialist workplace legal service for women

Unions Tasmania is seeking $250,000 per year from the government to set up the "working women's centre".

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"There is an urgent need for targeted workplace support for women, which was highlighted at the Jobs and Skills Summit and demonstrated in the Motion for Respect report," Unions Tasmania argued in its recent 2023-24 state budget submission.

"Unions Tasmania is uniquely well positioned to provide this support because of its comprehensive knowledge of the workplace challenges faced by women workers, successful track record in delivering effective worker support with the COVID-19 Worker Helpline, and the extensive body of expertise it draws on through its affiliated unions across the state and national networks including the Australian Council of Trade Unions."

Unions Tasmania said women needed safe workplaces.

"Government action, including targeted legislation and budget allocation, is needed to ensure workplaces are free from gendered violence and discrimination, and to achieve economic gender equity," it said.

"Three key areas for Tasmanian government action are in strengthening work health and safety, proactively closing the gender pay gap, and supporting a dedicated, specialist legal service for women workers delivered by Unions Tasmania."\

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It said workplaces needed to change from an ad hoc, reactive and complaints-based model putting the onus on individual workers to fix gendered violence and discrimination they experienced at work.

Rather, the union body said, a proactive and preventative model was needed, where employers had a positive duty under law to take reasonable, proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation as far as possible in their workplaces.

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"At the state level, the Tasmanian government is yet to exercise its own jurisdiction in legislating to prevent workplace sexual harassment and promote gender equality, but the need is increasingly evident," it said.

It said Equal Opportunity Tasmania's Motion for Respect report on ministerial and parliamentary workplaces highlighted the "fundamental disadvantage" workers could be placed at if they did not know about their workplace rights or were unable to enforce them.

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"Access to support from their union is fundamentally important for workers in this regard and should be built into inductions for all new (parliamentary and ministerial) staff," Unions Tasmania said.

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