economic Security4Women (eS4W) is a national women’s alliance, funded by the Australian Government through the Office for Women in the Commonwealth Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is an alliance of 20 organisations united in the belief that economic women’s wellbeing and financial security are essential for women and will enable women of all ages to have an equal place in society. The role of eS4W is to: bring together women's organisations and individuals from across Australia to share information, identify barriers security and to to women’s economic identify solutions by prioritising the key issues for action to bring about change engage actively with the Australian Government on policy issues as part of a better more informed and representative dialogue between women and government. One of our members, the National Foundation of Australian Women (NFAW) has made a number of to the Productivity Commissions Inquiry into Recommendations Workplace Relations, in the course of addressing the questions raised in the Issues Papers circulated by the Commission. eS4W endorses the following recommendations listed below in the order in which they appear in the body of the submission by NFAW. Objects of the FW Act (Section 4) 1. The current principal object of the Act should be amended to include a gender equality object. We know that gender has a significant impact on workplace relations and this must be reflected in the Act. 2. The objects of the FW Act should not be undermined by limiting or reducing the current range of existing minimum standards and protections embedded in the FW Act, including those affecting the operation of the safety net and bargaining. Employee protections (Section 5) 3. While there is already provision for an employee experiencing violence from a member of the in relation to requests for flexible working employee’s family arrangements under s.65(1A)(e) of the FW Act, specific corresponding and complementary amendments are required to provisions establishing awards, agreements, IFAs and general protections. In the latter case, Sections 351(1) and
economic Security4Women (eS4W) is a national women’s alliance, funded by the Australian Government through the Office for Women in the Commonwealth Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is an alliance of 20 women’s organisations united in the belief that economic wellbeing and financial security are essential for women and will enable women of all ages to have an equal place in society. The role of eS4W is to: bring together women's organisations and individuals from across Australia to share information, identify barriers to women’s economic security and to identify solutions by prioritising the key issues for action to bring about change engage actively with the Australian Government on policy issues as part of a better more informed and representative dialogue between women and government. One of our members, the National Foundation of Australian Women (NFAW) has made a number of Recommendations to the Productivity Commissions Inquiry into Workplace Relations, in the course of addressing the questions raised in the Issues Papers circulated by the Commission. eS4W endorses the following recommendations listed below in the order in which they appear in the body of the submission by NFAW. Objects of the FW Act (Section 4) 1. The current principal object of the Act should be amended to include a gender equality object. We know that gender has a significant impact on workplace relations and this must be reflected in the Act. 2. The objects of the FW Act should not be undermined by limiting or reducing the current range of existing minimum standards and protections embedded in the FW Act, including those affecting the operation of the safety net and bargaining. Employee protections (Section 5) 3. While there is already provision for an employee experiencing violence from a member of the employee’s family in relation to requests for flexible working arrangements under s.65(1A)(e) of the FW Act, specific corresponding and complementary amendments are required to provisions establishing awards, agreements, IFAs and general protections. In the latter case, Sections 351(1) and
sub0250-workplace-relations.docx