75,000 IEU members and their families will be celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) across the country this Friday, 8 March 2024.
Friday is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the incredible achievements of women fighting for greater equity, fairness and social inclusion; while we also recommit to taking the action needed to hasten the rate of change for women and girls around the world.
Action by union women delivers groundbreaking reforms
IWD will hold special significance for women in unions this year, as members celebrate their campaigns that delivered fairer laws that better support women and equality in the workplace.
As a union of 72% women, the IEU played a critical role in securing stronger rights to flexible work as well as access to multi-employer bargaining in feminised sectors like early childhood education.
New limits on the use of fixed-term contracts were particularly important for IEU members with thousands of women working in schools stuck on insecure short-term contracts. These members now have a clear pathway to job security and union support will embed these important gains.
IEU members commend the federal government’s announcement that superannuation will now be paid on government-funded parental leave. This is an essential step to help address the retirement poverty suffered by many women workers and builds on similar gains won by unions in collective bargaining.
Read the full IEU Speaks below or on the ieu.org.au website.