June 2011

Nina Funnell at Women Delegate’s Lunch

NSW Young Australian of the Year 2010 State Finalist, Nina Funnell will be guest speaker at this year’s QTU Biennial Conference, Women Delegate’s lunch.

Nina is well known for her articulate campaigning for the rights of all Australians to live free from physical and sexual violence. She volunteers with the Step to the Future Foundation and last year travelled across Australia speaking to over 15000 secondary school students and students at six universities on gender and sexuality related issues.

Nina is also a freelance opinion writer and a researcher in the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. In the past she has had work published in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Age, The Brisbane Courier Mail and in the Sydney Star Observer.

If you are coming to conference, don’t forget to book your ticket to the Women Delegate’s Lunch so that you can hear from this accomplished young woman.

Paid Parental Leave Update

On Friday 13 May I attended a meeting with the Department about the progress of ensuring the 1 July  2011 roll out of PPL via payroll.

Below is a summary of the verbal discussion.

• Employees will continue to apply for PPL through Centrelink and the funding for PPL will continue to come from the Commonwealth (via Centrelink) but from 1 July, payroll will administer the payments
• From July 1, Centrelink will forward all new applications for PPL  to payroll, who will then be responsible for making the payment to employees
• The PPL payments will appear on payslips as a Commonwealth PPL payment 
• PPL will continue to not be treated as wages and so won’t contribute towards superannuation but they are taxable
• Depending on the dates of leave, some employees may be eligible and receive holiday pay from the Department as well as PPL
• Any deductions usually made through payroll can continue and payroll will  contact employees to confirm the deductions prior to starting the payment.

For more information about the entitlement, please read the  information brochure on the QTU website or visit www.familyassist.gov.au

Women’s Log of Claims.

The QTU Women Teachers and Girls in Education Committee (WTGEC)  will be developing a Women’s Log of Claims later this year. Once endorsed by Executive and State Council, the Log of Claims will be used to inform the QTU’s next Enterprise Bargaining claim. Basic to the Women’s Log of Claims will be issues endorsed in the Women Education Workers Policy.

QTU members with suggestions for the Women’s Log of Claims can forward them to the WTGEC via services@qtu.asn.au before July 25.

Big win for equal pay, but more to do.

Queensland Teachers Union Members are encouraged to support social and community services (SACs) workers on June 8 which is the ASU (Australian Services Union) National Day of Action. If you can’t attend the rally, consider wearing red to show your support for SACs workers who are at a critical stage of their campaign for pay equity.

Fair Work Australia handed down a decision on Monday 16th May which recognised that social and community services (SACs) workers were undervalued and underpaid for reasons of gender. This represents a significant win for equal pay due to the successful shift in the understanding of what drives the persistent pay gap.

Fair Work Australia however also requested further information to help quantify the addition to pay rates they will use to remedy this gender pay gap.

Winning the case by proving these workers are undervalued alone will not correct the injustice, hence the importance of the campaign and the June 8 Rally.

Workers in the sector are in services such as: youth refuges, women's refuges, family support services, disability services, community legal centres, Aboriginal organisations, community or neighbourhood centres, family day care centres, migrant or ethnic services and aid agencies.

The campaign is at a critical stage so we need as many QTU members, officers and staff to attend the Brisbane Rally as we can get! The rally kicks off at 11 am Nundah Memorial Park (cnr Buckland Rd and Bage St, Nundah).

To get yourself ready for the rally, check out the dance to She Works Hard for Her Money so you too can dance for equal pay!

Women’s e-News can also be viewed on www.qtu.asn.au under “member groups – women”.

Kind Regards,

Catherine Day
QTU Women’s Coordinator (Acting)  

Authorised by John Battams, General Secretary, Queensland Teachers' Union,
21 Graham St,  Milton,Q.4064