Activist briefing | 11 August 2021

Winning Respect@Work & Paid Family & Domestic Violence leave

Every day unions support members who have been sexually harassed at work: two in three women and one in three men have experienced it according to our Australian Unions survey in 2018.

There is a plan to make work safer, especially for women. The landmark Respect@Work report has 55 recommendations to create stronger rights to eliminate sexual harassment.

The Federal Government sat on this report for over a year before it was forced to act by the outcry of women in this country in response to Brittany Higgins and other women coming forward. It now has a Bill before the Parliament cherry-picking some recommendations but ignoring the ones that would make the biggest contribution to making women safe at work.

We also know that family and domestic violence is a national crisis, especially during the pandemic. But the Government has refused to support paid family and domestic violence leave to help a women leave an abusive relationship.

The Vote on the Bill could be as early as this Wednesday. We urgently need to convince Crossbench politicians and the Government to vote for all of Respect@Work.

Priority recommendations include:

• A clear prohibition on sexual harassment supported by a proper complaints mechanism.

• A positive duty on employers to take proactive steps to eliminate sexual harassment, rather than just waiting until things go wrong.

• Ten days paid family and domestic violence leave – to help a woman leave an abusive relationship. Can you help us put pressure on these key Senators and MPs over the next 48 hours?

Find the Politician we are targeting in your home state 

• Do a post on social media, tagging them in.

• Be respectful. We are trying to convince people.

• Take a selfie with our selfie sign: https://cloud.actu.org.au/index.php/s/nzZk9xHZq4wqSpp

• Use #wewontwait – find and share other posts as well.

Here are some tweets to improve upon: Dear @Senator Cash – Harassment and violence against women at work is a national crisis.

• To make women safer at work, implement all of Respect@Work #wewontwait
• Hi @PaulineHansonOz –Two in five women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the past five years. Half measures won’t deal with this national crisis. Support all of the Respect@Work recommendations #wewontwait
• Hi @Anne_Ruston - A woman is killed by her intimate partner each week on average. But paid leave can help a woman leave. Support 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave for all women, in the Respect@Work Bill this week #wewontwait 

Authorised by Sally McManus, ACTU, Melbourne 3000