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• Pay Equity Case for Child Care Workers
• Transport – Buses and Ferries
• Community Alliances
• Housing Research Project
• Other responsibilities

Alison Peters, Deputy Assistant Secretary

	Alison Peters
	Deputy Assistant Secretary – Community Affairs

Pay Equity Case for Child Care Workers

The Liquor Hospitality Miscellaneous Workers' Union (LHMU) has begun the process of running a pay equity case for its childcare worker members. This will be a very significant case under the NSW Industrial Relations Commission’s Equal Remuneration Principle and will provide much guidance to other unions about how various aspects of the Principle will be interpreted. Alison has been involved in the preliminary stages of this matter and will represent Labor Council in proceedings before the Industrial Relations Commission, when the case is heard during 2005.

Alison will also be involved with the LHMU and other childcare unions in a community campaign designed to improve access to affordable childcare, whilst not compromising fair pay outcomes for childcare workers. This is a significant component of Labor Council’s ongoing campaign to achieve better work and family outcomes.

Transport – Buses and Ferries

During the year the NSW Government introduced regulations requiring bus and ferry operators to implement random drug and alcohol testing. Alison was involved with unions representing workers at both State Transit Authority (STA) and Sydney Ferries, in negotiating policies and procedures to meet the requirements of the regulation. The parties were constrained by a short timeframe and a great deal of suspicion following the poor implementation of similar requirements in other areas of public transport. Alison, together with Mary Yaager, arranged for unions, officials and delegates to be briefed on best practice approaches to drug and alcohol testing and to have access to independent expert advice and assistance during negotiations, which she co-ordinated. In the STA, negotiations achieved a health, safety and education focus to the process rather than a punitive approach. Rehabilitation is a key feature of the procedures. The process was able to be introduced with a minimum of disruption and will be reviewed early in 2005. In Sydney Ferries the focus has also been on health, safety, education and rehabilitation, although there remain some practical issues about when and where testing is conducted, given the nature of the work.

Alison has also been involved in assisting the STA and Sydney Ferry unions to resolve a number of disputes during the year.

Community Alliances

Alison has developed the set of criteria to assist Labor Council and affiliates strategically build community alliances as part of its campaigns. The criteria has, as its aim, to broaden support for unions and workers’ issues and to use this support effectively. The criteria also allows us to more effectively assess requests for support and assistance from other organisations that will lead to better collaboration and cooperation in future, rather than the more ad hoc approach that has been used in the past. This work by Alison complements the work being done by Amanda Tattersall in building the capacity of unions and community groups to work together to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

Housing Research Project

Labor Council has also been involved in a small project with researchers from the University of Western Sydney and Shelter (a peak housing advocacy organisation) that looks at the decisions workers make about where they live. As Sydney grows and housing costs raise these are significant issues for all workers and their families. The project looked at how these decisions impact on people’s work and how work impacted on the housing decisions made. Alison liased with the researchers on this project and is working with them to develop a larger project based on the preliminary findings.

Other responsibilities

Alison’s other significant work during the year included: -

• Convening the Labor Council Women’s Committee which meets bi-monthly
• Providing advice and support to affiliates on work and family issues
• Providing advice and support to affiliates on privacy related matters - particularly workplace surveillance
• Giving a number of speeches, talks and presentations to conferences, union meetings, training courses and community groups on a range of topics
• Coordinating union involvement in International Women’s Day events
• Coordinating union involvement in the Mardi Gras Parade and Fair Day
• Working with affiliates and community organisations to campaign for a universal health care system as part of the Save Medicare Alliance
• Working with a range of unions and women’s groups on a campaign to ensure that adequate resources and skills were retained when the NSW Department for Women was subsumed into the Premier’s Department
• Representing Labor Council at meetings convened by the Total Environment Centre (TEC) to develop a consistent framework for assessing Corporate Social Responsibility
• Meeting with delegations and individuals from China and Korea.

Alison has also represented the Labor Council on the following Boards and Committees: -

• ACTU Women’s Committee
• Australian Centre for Co-operative Research and Development Advisory Board
• Burma Office
• Industrial Relations Research Centre Advisory Committee (UNSW)
• NSW Co-operative Council
• NSW Migrant Skills Qualification Advisory Committee (until disbanded in June 2004)
• NSW Privacy Advisory Committee
• NSW Seafood Industry Council
• Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition
• Sydney University Work and Organisational Studies Advisory Board
• Sydney Water Corporation
• Transport and Logistics Centre Industry Advisory Board
• United Way (Sydney)
• Women’s Health at Work
• Working Women’s Centre

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URL: http://council.labor.net.au/annual_reports/2004/2004-Alison.html
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