A Study of women’s wages and conditions

Early indications suggest that the Work Choices legislation is adversely affecting the wages and conditions of workers. A recent random survey showed that out of the 250 individual contracts examined:

To better understand the impact of the Work Choices legislation on women’s wages and conditions The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW), in partnership with the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL), has commissioned the Women in Economic and Social Research (WiSER) consortium at Curtin University to develop national data on women’s wages and conditions.

Phase 1 of the study (jointly funded with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) will consist of a stock take of the current wages and conditions of vulnerable groups of women, including migrants, younger women and women with a disability. This data will be publicly available and will provide a snapshot of women’s pay and conditions (including key family friendly conditions) in Australia in 2006.

The stock take analysis from WiSER will also recommend ways of strengthening data collection and provide a listing of current relevant research.

Phase 2 of the study will build on this data to look at the impact of changes arising from the first three years of the Work Choices legislation. This study will report on in-depth interviews with 100 women workers across Australia exploring their experiences under the Work Choices legislation and their understanding and knowledge of the new industrial relations system, awards and bargaining.

NFAW is seeking donations for Phase 2 of this project.  The NFAW, in partnership with the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL), want to raise $75,000.00 to expand their joint research studies into women’s wages and conditions.