
Issue No 70		07 September 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

News

Women Challenge Prejudice in Maritime Industry

By Zoe Reynolds

Patrick Stevedores forced women workers to use men's urinals for nine months at its Webb Dock terminal in Melbourne before providing female toilets, woman seafarers were considered unsuitable for the higher paid night shift on "safety grounds", and an equipment contractor in regional Queensland threatened to withdraw a crane if a woman operated it.

These are some of the many problems facing women in the maritime industry under discussion at the MUA Victorian Branch Women's Conference held in Melbourne today.

Twenty rank and file workers from the wharves and ships attended the state conference where ACTU president Sharan Burrow was the key-note speaker.

Most women in the maritime industry are employed on the passenger ferry Spirit of Tasmania in traditional female jobs as caterers or at Patrick terminals as stevedore workers, forty employed at Patrick' Webb Dock in Melbourne alone where most hold only casual daily hire jobs.

MUA Assistant National Secretary, Mick O'Leary said "Patrick have quite openly said they see young woman as less likely to want permanent jobs or join a union.

"They think they are less likely to be radical and more likely to take orders but Patrick has been unsuccessful with this strategy." he said.

Delegates at the conference discussed the need to have paid maternity leave, breast-feeding facilities, and paid carers leave provision in enterprise agreements.

MUA Port Botany Wharfie and delegate Sue Gajdos said, "Some may argue that women only make up 2.6% of the union.

"But if we don't make the wharves and ships more attractive to women workers how can we ever recruit more women into the industry and union."

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 70 contents

Interview: New Internationalism
In its battle with Rio Tinto the CFMEU has pioneered global campaigning. National Secretary John Maitland talks to Workers Online about globalisation, a union response and using new technologies to organise .

History: Pickets and Police
S11 protestors would do well to be wary. Fred Paterson, CPA member of the Qld Parliament, was bashed by the Queensland police on St Patrick's Day 1948, when a Labor Government was in power in that state.

Education: The WEF -Why Should We Care?
An event like the World Economic Forum attracts all the spin doctors for every interest, often obscuring real issues. For educators the issues may seem remote but a closer look shows that services like public education could be dramatically affected by the unfolding agenda of global trade liberalisation says Rob Durbridge.

Economics: A Vandalised Economy
Since New Zealand was opened up to the forces of globalisation, it has performed dismally, both economically and socially. NZCTU Economist Peter Conway reports.

Unions: Our Vital Role in Society
Eight months into his new role as ACTU Secretary Greg Combet reflects on the challenges facing Australian unions.

International: Turning Up The Heat
John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO says the union movement can and will reform the global economy, for as Dr Martin Luther King taught us, the moral arc of history is long but it bends towards justice.

Satire: Threat to withhold pocket money derails S11 protest
MELBOURNE, Tuesday: Members of the activist collective S11 announced today that they had decided to cancel their protest at the upcoming World Economic Forum meeting at Crown Casino.

» Nike Slammed Over Indonesian Factories

» Fairfax Joins Ferals

» Federal Government Blocks Rail Merger

» Auditor-General Blows Whistle On Outsourcing Madness

» Fly By Night Labour Takes Off

» CFMEU Rejects Reith Mischief

» The Organised Olympics

» Killjoy Reith Targets Picnics and Fun

» New Economy Spawns New Plagues

» Multi-national Stymies Peace Talks

» Greed of the Fatcats

» Women Challenge Prejudice in Maritime Industry

» Building Union Raises $42,000 For Paralympians

» Get Organised! NZ Unions Tell Army