Workers Online
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Workers Online
  Issue No 35 Official Organ of LaborNet 15 October 1999  

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News

Tales from the Gender Battlefield

By Naomi Steer

A female worker was asked to wear skimpy clothes and red lip-stick because the boss said it "looked sexy", confirming sexual harassment is alive and well in the Australian workplace.

The anecdote, which resulted in a complaint to Federal Sex Commissioner Susan Halliday was one of the battle stories recounted at this week's Annual Women in Trade Unions Dinner.

Ms Halliday gave a number of examples of recent complaints to the commission, including:

� a pregnant woman being asked by her supervisor when she intended to stop working and being told "it doesn't look very nice with you doing table service while you are pregnant"

� a boss who insisted that his female employees wear tight trousers, skimpy clothing, red lipstick and nail polish" because it looked sexy."

� repeated and numerous examples of male supervisors and male coworkers harassing women by sexual innuendo, crude sex references and unwelcome touching and sexual propositions.

While Halliday pointed out that men also face discrimination and harassment in the workplace, over 85 per cent of complaints lodged under the Act are made by women, the majority of which involve sexual harassment.

She urged the 150 women attending the dinner to encourage their unions to pursue more complaints through the Sex Discrimination Commission as a practical alternative to the industrial commissions.

And she urged better training for delegates to deal with discrimination matters in the workplace.


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*   Issue 35 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Strategic Responses
NSW Police Association president Mark Burgess has worked in the coal mines and the waterfront - now he�s the public face of NSW police
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*  Republic: Negative Campaigning
If the Republic fails, one of the main complaints which should be leveled against the ARM is its refusal to play dirty.
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*  Unions: Interpreter smooths the way for Kosovar Refugees
�The people really appreciate what Australia has done for them but they still want to go home," said Ariana Biba, a HREA member who has been worked recently as an interpreter assisting newly arrived refugees from Kosovo.
*
*  Education: Count Yorga's Evil Plot
NTEU president Carolyn Allport looks at Kemp's brazen attack on univestities and warns the battle is not won yet.
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*  Safety: Death in the Snowy
Beyond the engineering achievements of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, there is the tragic story of those workers killed or seriously injured in the construction of the project.
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*  International: Why Is the WTO So Anti-Labour?
Driving the cost of labour down appears to be the main priority of the World Trade Organisation
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*  History: The Importance of Tradition
Historical documents bring us into closer contact with the past and its concerns as this 1945 extract from the NSW Nurses Association journal, The Lamp, shows.
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*  Review: McLibel - The Mice That Roared
This documentary is the classic tale of the little guys against the system, a battle for the right to dissent.
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*  Satire: Government Privatises Numbers
Prime Minister John Howard released a new policy on numerals yesterday, to bring them in in line with the Liberal Party's plan to privatise �Pretty much everything before we lose office.�
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News
»  Telstra Workers Turn Reith on his Head
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»  Revenge of the Working Sick
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»  McPickets To Hit Centennial Park
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»  AFL-CIO Computer Deal Keeps Union in Control
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»  Four Pillars Behind Westpac Cuts
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»  Labor MPs Asked to Stand Up and Be Counted
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»  Reith�s Second Wave Smokescreen
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»  Reith to Legalise Gay and Lesbian Discrimination
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»  Denham or Lace - Libs to Ravage Public Sector
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»  The Big Australian Swiftie - $19 Mill Entitlements at Risk
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»  Real Sweatshops: Ice Cubes To Cool Down
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»  Xanana Endorses APHEDA
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»  Tales from the Gender Battlefield
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»  It�s Time! Republic Goes Funky
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»  STOP PRESS: Combet Elected ACTU Secretary Unopposed
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Columns
»  Guest Report
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Piers Watch
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Letters to the editor
»  The Very Broad Picture
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»  Second Wave - Are We Playing To Win
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»  Don't Let Howard Take The Human Out Of Human Rights
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»  Tax Ideas Not in the Hunt
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»  Desperately Seeking Trevor Melksham
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