Issue Date: - Monday, 13 August 2007

Fair Employment Advocate endorses WorkChoices report finding

Western Australia's Fair Employment Advocate has welcomed the findings of the "Women and WorkChoices" report released today by the National Foundation for Australian Women.

The Western Australian section of the report, conducted by the Women in Social and Economic Research unit of Curtin University, found WorkChoices had little impact in improving working conditions for vulnerable workers.

Fair Employment Advocate, Helen Creed, said many recommendations could be taken from the local report.

"Women in low paid jobs with weak bargaining power are particularly at risk of exploitation.

"This report brings to light the issues I am trying to address as Fair Employment Advocate," Ms Creed said.

"I have dealt with the case of a woman who was working in hospitality. She was not offered any flexibility in her position, and as a single mum it was easier for her to leave her job than to negotiate flexible shifts.

"This woman is one of the lucky ones who could pick up a job elsewhere because of our buoyant economy, but there are others who feel compelled to remain in an unsatisfactory workplace because of the difficulty in obtaining new work.

"Overall, it has been my experience that vulnerable workers are unaware of their workplace entitlements, and confused about the industrial relations system."

Ms Creed said the findings by Curtin University were consistent with the situations being reported to the Fair Employment Advocate and that she will be working with other agencies to address the report recommendations.