DOREEN BORROW

RETIRED UNIONIST AND PEACE ACTIVIST

DOREEN BORROW

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you about how I became involved in the union movement and to relate to you what it was like to be woman activist in the years before most of you were born. I am reminded of the time when my great grandson, Michael, introduced me to his class. He said "This is my great grandmother, Nanna Doreen, and she is very, very, very old!"

I cannot tell you how delighted I am to see so many women activists in the union movement today. A far cry from when I first entered the workforce which is almost sixty five years ago.
I had completed six years of primary school and with the help of my teacher sat for and passed the Intermediate Certificate. My teacher held great hopes for me continuing my education but my mother's finacial circumstances ruled that out. So when I was offered a position in the local post office at Captains Flat I accepted. I was fifteen years of age.

My mother's pride knew no bounds about me getting this job. She told every one about what she deemed my good fortune. It was if I had won a Noble prize. She said to me how great it was for me to have obtained a white-collar job and if I behaved myself and worked well I would never have to do any ones dirty work or never become a slushy.

The reason I got the job was because men were enlisting in the armed forces during WW2 and women were filling the positions they vacated. The Postmaster's message on my first day at work was that post offices were no place for women. How wrong he was! By 1946 there were over 6000 women in the PMG engaged in work normally done by men. And under legislation enacted by the government and carried out by the Women's Employment Board we were entitled to the full male rate. The APTU was the first union to secure equal pay during the war years.

The postmaster saw to it that I never had a spare moment. If the office was not busy he would send me out to chop wood saying "Righto Miss Kerr, if you have nothing to do you can go and swing the axe for awhile." Off I would go to confront a mountain of wood with a man sized axe while he and the Postal Clerk would bask in the glow of the big open fire. I was expected to dig the garden also and I worked hours of unpaid overtime which included staying back after the office closed on Saturday and cleaning the place. I had no idea of what my rights were and no one was prepared to tell me.

I joined the Australian Postal Workers Union shortly after I began work, not out of any commitment to unionism but because a union official said I had to. I never did see him again nor did I see any other union officials during that phase of my working life. My brother's reaction when I told him I had joined the union was to tell me unions were no place for women! I continued to pay my union dues out of my meager salary of four dollars per fortnight half of which I gave to Mum.

After working for twelve months in the local post office I read a notice in the Commonwealth Gazette asking for women to train as Morse code operators in Sydney.

Without consulting anyone I made an application for the traineeship, was accepted and some months later was on the way to the Big Smoke with a small suitcase and five quid (ten dollars). I was sixteen years old. The only advice my mother gave me on leaving home was "Don't come home in the family way or I will break both your legs." I am pleased to report that I survived the war with both my legs intact.

It was hell on earth trying to learn this technology as the men who were training us were old blokes who had been pulled out of retirement and who bitterly resented women intruding into their work area. After putting up with their bullying for a few months I decided enough was enough and I transferred out into the post office again. I don't think I would have ever got the hang of those dots and dashes anyway.

I worked for the Postmaster General Dept. until my marriage in 1946 to David Borrow who had recently returned from service in New Guinea. I applied for leave to get married which was granted along with the sack as no married women were allowed to work in any sector of public service. I accepted this, as I was anxious to be off starting a new life with a man who would provide for me and any children I may have in the future.

After living for several years in West Australia I returned with my family to Captains Flat where David obtained work in the mine. I was already the mother of a boy and during the following years I had three more children. I played out my role as a housewife and mother but never fully accepting that role and the inequality inherent in it.

As a small child I made up my mind, after observing the treatment metered out to most women, including my mother, I would never be treated as second class.

I must have been born with a sense of self worth for I was not educated along those lines. I bitterly resented the fact that men had so much liberty and controlled the family finances.

There were no jobs for married woman at the Captains Flat and precious few for single women. The union strongly opposed married women working. The miners received poor pay and it was an on going struggle to make ends meet especially as there was a lot of industrial unrest and strikes, two of which lasted for five and six months respectively.

It was during one of these prolong strikes that I made decision that impacted on my life. I decided to abandon the faith I had been bought up in because of the anti union stance taken by the local priest. This appalled my family and the priest wore a beaten track to my door telling me of the hell-fire and damnation that awaited me for leaving the church.

I have never resiled from that decision and remain to this day skeptical of all regions and see them all as being anti women.

When my oldest boy was ten, David was killed in a mining accident. I was left with four small children under the age of ten and ten dollars in David's bank account. It cost me three guineas to get that through letters of administration.

My life changed completely from that point onwards.

I travelled to Sydney to learn of the decision as to how much I had been awarded in Workers compensation and was told the following by the man who had the responsibility of conveying the decision. This is what he said

"Mrs Borrow, it has been decided that you will receive the minium amount of compensation for the following reason. Dispite the fact that you have four children your chances of remarriage appear to be good as you are not an unattractive woman." I sat there at the end of a long polished table thinking, "Isn't he a nice man telling me I am attractive." I know what I would say today!

I made two decisions after I received the pittance I was awarded. One was that I would move my family to a place where I could obtain employment and improve the life chances of my children and myself. My family was opposed to this idea and thought that I should stay where I was and with a bit of luck someone would come along and marry me. But I stuck to my plans and with the compensation I received I put a deposit on a house in Wollongong and moved there with my four small children.

The second decision was to never to remarry or place myself in a dependent position on a man. I don't want to leave the impression that from henceforth on I lived the life of a nun as that was not the case. I just didn't want to sign up again to the old marriage contract.

I joined the CPA in 1959 and began a lifelong commitment to my class. It was during my membership in the CPA that I received my political education. This enabled me to understand the class system and why women had such a secondary role. I learned that it was possible for women to be in control of their lives and the key to this was economic independence.

A few months after my arrival in Wollongong I obtained a position in the local post office at Warrawong and on receipt of my first pay envelope I realised I was being paid a much lower rate than my male counterparts.

When I queried the postmaster as to why I was receiving much less than the young fellow working next to me he said it was because I was a woman!

I soon found out that while I had been out of the workforce making babies and playing housewife all the previous conditions accorded to females in the PMG had gone down the plughole.

This was totally unacceptable to me so I decided that something had to be done about it. But what? There was no union representation for PMG workers in Wollongong and we only saw union officials from Sydney when there was an election to be held.

Two other union members and myself approached the State branch of the union and made the request that a sub branch be formed in Wollongong. Permission was granted and along with men unionist three women and myself began to attend the monthly meetings of the union. The reaction of males when the question of equal pay was raised was very hostile. Also there was a great deal of difficulty in convincing other women that we were entitled to the same rate of pay as male workers. Or that we had any entitlements at all. We were all casually employed and the positions we filled were advertised as being vacant in the Commonwealth Gazette and males who passed the exam (that women could not sit) were awarded our jobs.

So some kid fresh from the bush would take the position and women went home. Thankfully these blokes didn't last long working for the PMG as there was better money to be had in other industries in Wollongong where they could earn overtime and penalty rates. Then the phone would ring and the postmaster would tell you that you could have the job back if you wanted it.

It wasn't until 1968 when the ACTU fought the case with Bob Hawke as advocate that equal pay was granted to some women. The reaction of one woman in my workplace to this great leap forward was to say "We will just have to work harder so we won't feel guilty about taking it." Other women didn't think we deserved to be paid equal pay and the men became very resentful.

Even then the decision came with strings attached. It was deemed women workers should be granted equal pay phased in over a four-year period, and equal job opportunities "for work of equal value."

The equal job opportunities had a hollow ring also. Previously women had been employed as casuals and were barred from sitting for exams. After the equal pay case was determined the PMG abolished exams which again left us in no mans land as far as job opportunity and permanency was concerned.

Finally and years down the track and through further struggle it was deemed that having served a year in a position and passing the medical board permanency was granted.

I was elected honorary secretary of the sub branch of my union, a position I held for over thirty years. The union membership was mainly men and covered both postal and Telecom workers. At our monthly meetings it was almost all men who attended apart from two other women. One of those stopped attending as after one meeting her husband beat her up!

I found it most frustrating that I was not able to to convince women members to come along. However I understood the difficulties they faced as the majority did not own cars or even drive and they had small children to care for. After a days work and cooking a meal etc it would have been extremely hard to venture out on the bus to come to a meeting. I would imagine that some of those issues are relevant today for women.

In my case I knocked of work at 5pm caught a bus home, prepared the evening meal then caught a bus to Wollongong to attend the monthly union meeting. Usually one of the blokes would give me a lift home.

I was elected to the State Executive of my union in 1981 the first women to be elected. On arrival at the first meeting of the new executive there was no welcome mat laid out. On the contrary there was a distinctive atmosphere of resentment from the twenty-three men present. The first words to greet me were uttered by someone telling me there were no female toilets in the building. I told the person who relayed this vital information that he should look after his own bladder and I would take care of mine.

The meeting opened and the "F" word was on everyone's lips. After a few minutes the secretary stated "that as we now have a woman on the executive we should perhaps moderate our language." This was met with a barrage of comments like "they want equality" etc. I informed them I was familiar with the word and referred them to the union rulebook that stated 'No drunkenness or bad language will be tolerated at union meetings" and suggested that if we all stick to the rules that would solve the problem.

During the two years I served on the State Ex. not once did I get support for any motion I put forward regarding women or anything else for that matter.

On my retirement from the paid workforce in 1991 I was awarded life membership of my union.

I served as a delegate to the South Coast Labour Council for seventeen years and was recently made a life member of that organisation also. And before the Painters and Dockers Union became defunct I was made a life member.

I have been active in many organisations such as the Australian Peace Committee, The Working Women's Charter, Chilean Solidarity Committee, and the African National Congress support group, the Union of Australian Women, Save Our Sons and many other organisations.

I have stood on picket lines over many issues, marched, leafleted, and defended my workmates over many injustices. I have been saddened by our defeats and rejoiced in the gains we as trade unionists have made.

During the years I was in the paid workforce I strived to convince my workmates that joining a union was the cheapest form of insurance they can have. There are both male and female, in the workforce today who think a kind and benign management gave them the conditions they now enjoy. This is far from the true, as each and every condition had to be fought for by the labour movement.

Before I retired I was told by young women at my workplace that she hated unions. I said I was sorry to hear I say that and told her of the gains unions had made that she now enjoyed. I said that women once had to work for much lower pay than their male counterparts and her reply was that she would not have worked for lower pay. I told her she would have if she wanted a job and said I did not expect her to carry a red flag down Crown Street on May Day but that she should appreciate and respect the gains made by unions.

In my lifetime there has been the establishment of Women's Refuges where women and children can seek shelter from violent relationships. Unheard of in my early days and certainly a much-needed facility as according to recent statistics 3 million women in Australia are subject to domestic violence.

Pensions for single Mums.

The introduction of Medicare.

Education and training opened up for women.

Termination of unwanted pregnancy performed in safe conditions. Only the rich could afford that in my youth. Desperate working class women resorted to crochet hooks or knitting needles or were forced to give up their babies after giving birth.

The access to contraception methods to prevent the above happening.

Law reforms to end untenable marriages.

Anti Discrimination Laws.

Most if not all of these reforms were hard won by struggle on the part of Trade Unions and the Labour movement with women unionist being the first to raise these issues.

This present government has dumped the office of the Status of Women, which means the exclusion of women from the political agenda and defining their roles only within the family structure. This is happening in a period where women's full-time employment has declined, where women's earnings compared to men's has dropped and where the payment of $3000 to women when they have babies is deemed to be an acceptable substitute for a national paid maternity leave scheme and child care.

The decentralization of wage-fixing, amendments to the act covering unfair dismissals will make women even more vulnerable to intimidation due to their lack of knowledge of their rights and financial pressures imposed on them.

The introduction of AWA's means an end to collective bargaining, a system that this country was built on. A system that ensured you looked after your workmates not only in your union but others who were in difficulty locally, nationally and internationally.

It is not only the liberal government that is prepared to treat women in this cavalier fashion. The present labour governments in NSW, Victoria and Queensland have down graded their Women's Advice units and Mark Latham gave scant attention to working women's problems in his election campaign. These decisions will stand because as women we are deemed not to have the political clout of men.

At the beginning of the 21st century women constituted 43% of the paid workforce in Australia. One could be forgiven for thinking that figure represented a fair degree of political clout if properly mobilised! If working women are to maintain and advance their position in the workforce they will have to find ways to develop the clout that is necessary to combat the blatant anti women policies that will confront them in the not too distant future.

There has been changes regarding women since I entered the workforce over sixty five years ago and it is pleasing to see that women are taking their rightful place as members and leaders in the trade unions and in other areas. In Australia Post women now make 38% of the workforce, 20% are in executive positions and 27% hold senior positions. This is a far cry from my days where women only filled the lower ranks. I hope they find it easier than women of my generation did.

Equal pay applies in some workplaces, as does maternity leave, super, long service and other benefits that were denied to women for years. But whilst many of the big-ticket items have been won there is still a long way to go before women can truly say they have an equal place in our society.

I have never been a radical feminist although there are some who would dispute that statement. Especially my son Steve who claims I gave him a copy of "SCUM" (The Society for Cutting up Men) for his 15th birthday. I am of the opinion that equality in the work place and home will only be achieved when both men and women take up the issues specific to women.

A lot of men still need convincing that it is in their interest to support so-called "Women's Issues" From where I stand we still have a long way to go as far as educating men is concerned. Women should instil in their sons and daughters from an early age that women are not second class people. As women we must be no longer be prepared to accept the inequality inherent in our society.

During my time as an employee of Australia Post management made it clear to me that as far as job opportunities and chances of promotion were concerned, for as long as I was involved in union activity my chances of promotion were nil. I don't think management would get away with that today but you would know more about that me.

In any case I was not about chasing promotion or big bucks and I was happy doing what I had always done, defending the rights of the workers. I suppose what I have related to you about my life is a blue print of what not to do if you want advancement in the workplace which is still a boys club as is the union. In my time union officials paid grudging lip service to equality for women they made sure none of us got a chance to be paid organisers.

As for the officials in my union during my time the kindest words I can say of them that they were self serving, right wing grubs with little talent and even less commitment to the people they were paid to serve.

It took courage for women of my generation to stand up and challenge the inequality that we were expected to accept. And it takes courage today. I look back on my life with few regrets and much satisfaction. From the day I became a single parent until today I have tried as far as it was possible to be in control of my life. I do not look forward to the day when I may have to hand over the reins to others but there is no doubt that if I live long enough that day will come.

Meanwhile I will continue to pursue my lifelong activities such as supporting union struggles, peace and human rights. I will continue to speak out when and where I see injustices being perpetrated and I will defend the rights of women.

I do not want to leave you with the impression that the gains I have spoken of came without a long and protracted struggle. Generations of women have fought for social, legal and political equality They were not passive recipients of change and if your attendance here today is any indication women will continue to struggle to make a more equitable society for all.

It has never been easy being a woman and participating in what has been and still is to a great extent, a male domain .We have much to contend with given our biological makeup and the discrimination we have faced in the past, present and, I fear the future.

I will conclude by saying that my life experiences have been something that no amount of money could buy. We only get one chance at living and the chasing after material things, the big houses, and all the trapping that society says we must have in order to be fulfilled mean nothing if you have not enjoyed your time on earth. I can honestly say despite some sadness and hardship my life has been great and given the chance I would do it all again. I congratulate all of you for being union activists and again thank you again for inviting to participate in your conference.