
Issue No 58		16 June 2000

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Unions

MUA Women's Policy Back on Course

By Zoe Reynolds

A hard hitting report by the Maritime Union's women's delegate Sue Gajdos prompts the union to, once again, promote its female members.


	Illustration by Jacky Bevan Courtesy the International Transport Workers' Federation

Far too few women work in the world's transport industries and far too many of those who do are subjected to rape, sexual harassment and substandard working conditions.

This is what MUA member, Port Botany wharfie and Asia Pacific representative to the International Transport Workers' Federation women's committee, Sue Gajdos reported to National Council on May 18.

"At the ITF women's meeting in April, we were all asked to report," said Sue Gajdos. "It was disheartening to hear about how common it is for female employees to be raped by their employers and colleagues in South Asia and Africa.

"Countries such as these also persecute the victims of such attacks. Male superiors say the women deserved to be raped - that they must have provoked the attack. Reports of management requesting sexual favours in exchange for overtime are also common. Sometimes a woman worker's future employment with the company depends on providing such favours."

Such widespread sexual abuse is, happily, not common in Australia. We have a sexual harassment policy. But harassment still happens and will continue to happen while women are a minority in the workplace.

Gajdos said it was her sad duty to report to the ITF on the decline of women members across the Australian transport industry. Labour trends in Australia show a rise in female participation in the last decade with 64 per cent of women working (up 6 per cent). But on the waterfront our membership files show that women members only make up 1.18 per cent of all members, down from two years ago.

In seafaring it is little better. (2.23 per cent) and mostly in traditional women's jobs on board the Spirit of Tasmania. Most MUA women (over 60 per cent) are casuals. The Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers report only four women engineers. But the burnout rate is high due to sexual harassment problems.

Numbers in the Transport Workers' Union here, are much the same (three per cent of workers are women, most are casual) However the TWU is pushing an affirmative action program in the lead up to the Olympics.

Sue Gajdos called on the MUA to do the same. "Affirmative action is a misunderstood policy," she said. "It does not mean giving less qualified women jobs over better qualified men. But it does mean that if a woman is as good or better than a man applying for the same job, the position should go to the woman. This should also apply when

upgrading people from casual to permanent positions."

"This union is still perceived as macho," said Gajdos. "It is viewed as a union not afraid to flex its industrial muscle - an image cleverly manipulated and used against us during the Patrick dispute. And still used against us now."

This, Gajdos stressed, is unfair. The MUA has done much for its women members - the inaugural women's conference, 1995, the formation of an interim women's committee, developing sexual harassment policies, appointing a woman to the ITF women's conference, a women's observer to council.

"But we need to do more," she said. "Not just for women, but to boost the image of the union."

The 1998 Patrick dispute and the departure of women's liaison officer Assistant National Secretary Vic Slater under such sad circumstances brought all efforts to promote women in the union to a halt - understandably.

The MUA women's conference was first held in 1995. The women's interim committee set up to meet twice a year, has been unable to meet since 1997.

National Council minutes of September 1997 record the following resolution:

"...The union will actively encourage the participation of its women members in the work of the union to achieve more opportunities for employment and for a career path in the stevedoring, shipping industry and port authorities ..... The national officers will develop proposals in consultation with the Women's Committee to enable national council to endorse initiatives to achieve these objectives..."

The union has resolved to reconvene the women's committee and hold a national women's conference this year. The committee's task will be to develop an affirmative action program promoting women in the maritime industry. A women's committee member attends all council meetings and a national officer is responsible for co-ordinating women's issues and policies.

Meanwhile the Australian Council of Trade Unions has appointed its second woman as president and determined to ensure women, in future, make up half of its executive members.

And the ITF women's committee has launched a global campaign "Women Transporting the World." The campaign is aimed at improving women transport workers employment rights, increasing their international and national activities, recognising the changing workforce and assisting the drive to mobilise more women members in the transport unions.

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  Issue 58 contents

Interview: After the Gold Rush
NSW building union leader Andrew Ferguson on life after the Olympics and why Che Guevara is his political hero.

Unions: MUA Women's Policy Back on Course
A hard hitting report by the Maritime Union's women's delegate Sue Gajdos prompts the union to, once again, promote its female members.

Politics: Raising the Rafters
Opposition leader Kim Beazley delivered a stirring address to last weekend's NSW ALP State Conference. Here's every word of it.

History: Time and Tide
Greg Patmore surveys the themes of Working Lives in Regional Australia in this introduction to the latest issue of 'Labour History'

International: Fair in the Land of the Free
More than 20,000 immigrant workers, union members and community and religious leaders packed a Los Angeles Sports Arena on June 10 in support of immigrant workers' rights.

Environment: Life's a Beach
Workers are invited to join an environmental campaign to protect the coastal communities and coastline from exploitation by multinationals.

Satire: More Pacific Coups Forecast
The popular holiday resort of Great Keppel Island is bracing itself for a bloody coup, following the rash of rebel uprisings in other parts of the Pacific.

Review: At the Barricades
Denis Evans' photo essay on the Patrick dispute captures the camaraderie on the Melbourne picket lines - solidarity that, like solder, welded workers and their communities together into a human barricade.

Crackdown on Fiji Workers Intensifies
Building Industry Braces for Post-Games Slump
Call Centre Battle Hots Up
More Sackings Spark Entitlements Showdown
Carr Establishes Labor Hire Inquiry
High Court Puts Workers At Reith's Mercy
Miners Hit the Streets Over Death Threats
Unions Urged to Reignite Republic Debate
Tips Rip-Off Sparks Hotel Picket
Community Workers to Lay Siege to Parliament
Water Workers Accept 14% Pay Rise
Counselling for Workplace Accidents
Korean Food Festival is Union Business
Che Helps Doctors Save Lives
Maude Barlow Public Lecture - Sydney June 27