The federal Treasurer tells us that cost-of-living pressures are only going to get worse before they get better. Angela Carr argues that Labor must abandon its neoliberal approach.
Childcare
Thousands of childcare workers walked out across the country as part of their campaign for better pay and conditions. Jim McIlroy reports.
Early childcare workers are going on strike for better pay and urgent action on staff shortages, reports Jacob Andrewartha.
Given the long-running United States' blockade on Venezuela, activists are raising money for a childcare centre there. Chris Slee reports.
The corporate media is giving the federal government’s latest budget a big thumbs up, despite its brazen hand-outs for billionaires and big corporations, writes Alex Bainbridge.
After eliminating almost all its generous pandemic spending measures, the federal government has indicated it will soft-peddle on further cuts in the May 11 budget. Neville Spencer reports.
Calls are growing for early childhood education to move away from the for-profit model, writes Jim McIlroy.
An estimated 7000 childcare workers took industrial action by walking off the job around Australia on September 5 to demand equal pay.
The childcare workers’ strike on International Women’s Day caused me to reflect on the long journey towards equal pay and my personal experience over 50 years of my working life.
My first job as a student was as a conductor on Sydney buses from 1964 to 1966. Bus conductors and teachers were the only jobs that paid women the same rates as men, because there were “manpower” shortages in these industries. However, it was not until late 1966 that women conductors could be promoted to drivers.
On September 8 about 100 childcare workers stopped work across Melbourne to call for equal pay and recognition for their work.
A number of childcare centres, including Dawson St Child Care Co-operative, Monash Community Family Co-operative, Monash Children’s Centre, Monash Caulfied Childcare Centre and East Brunswick Kindergarten and Childcare Centre, closed at 3pm, affecting about 500 children.
Childcare workers chained themselves to the entrance doors of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Melbourne office on International Women's Day, March 8 to demand better pay for the mainly women who work in the industry. The protesters said the 150,000 childcare workers nationally were "woefully" underpaid compared with other educators.
New mothers will be pushed to return to work sooner and non-working families will be punished by having childcare subsidies reduced in the government’s latest budget.
Treasurer Joe Hockey chose Mother's Day on May 10 to announce that almost 80,000 women will have their existing paid parental leave slashed, saving $1 billion.
At the moment the government provides 18 weeks of paid parental leave at the minimum wage of $600 a week.