Adelaide IWD on the move
ADELAIDE — The International Women's Day collective took to the streets here with a campaigning stall on January 27 to publicise the theme and demands for this year's rally.
"This year's theme 'Women fighting for global justice — against corporate tyranny', says to people that IWD is about taking up political issues and about campaigning globally for women's rights", said the collective's Connie Frazer.
Frazer said that IWD this year will march on key "targets", such as the immigration department, the stock exchange, Nike and the federal government's offices.
The collective's next major public event will be a public meeting on February 10, 1.30pm at the Gov Hotel. The collective meets every Saturday at 12noon at the Women's Studies Resource Centre at 64 Pennington Tce, North Adelaide.
Melbourne IWD for global justice
MELBOURNE — The International Women's Day collective's theme for this year's IWD march, to be held on March 10, is "Women fighting for global justice".
The rally's demands include: cancel Third World debt; end poverty; end the trafficking of women; open the borders, free the refugees; rights for working women, here and overseas; stop attacks on women and the disabled on welfare; and reproductive freedom for all women, abortion and IVF on demand.
The collective has taken up the plight of Iraqi women, 200 of whom have beheaded by the brutal Saddam Hussein regime late last year. The collective also has plans for an action against the welfare attacks to single mothers and the disabled.
The IWD march and rally will be on Saturday, March 10, beginning 12 noon at the State library. The Melbourne IWD Collective meets every Thursday, 6pm, at 489 Elizabeth St, YWCA.
Tasmanians get paid maternity leave
HOBART — The state government has agreed to grant Tasmania's 13,000 public servants a 9% pay rise, 12 weeks' paid maternity leave and access to salary sacrifice.
Nurses, police and teachers are not included in this new agreement, which is yet to be voted on by members of the Community and Public Sector Union. However, conditions in the state's public sector have typically served as a benchmark for private sector workers, increasing the chances for similar gains being made by all Tasmania's workers.
The new entitlements will mean that women will no longer have to rely on their sick leave in order to bear children, and will decrease the economic penalty women pay for having children.