PSA Women's Council

The PSA Women’s Council has a long and glorious history of fighting for issues affecting women members. The Council was established in 1930s and is still working on many of the same battles, e.g. pay equity and maternity protection for women.

Every woman member of the PSA is a member of Women's Council and is eligible to nominate for The Women's Council Committee and attend meetings, although only elected representatives can vote. Women's Council Committee is made up of women members elected from each of 23 Women's Council Electorates every two years.

Women's Council and the PSA have had many successes over the years in improving the situation of women members, however there is always more to do.

The current Women's Council is working on issues around:

• job security for women workers and the prevention of the casualisation of women's work
• pay equity
• occupational health and safety for women
• review of maternity leave provisions
• flexible work practices.

The PSA Women's Unit and Training Unit offer a special 1 day Induction course to all new Women's Councillors after every election. The course provides participants with information on women in the union movement and in the workforce, operations of Women's Council under the Rules and By-Laws, structure of the union, current industrial issues and union organising.

Comments from attendees last year about the training included: "Good mixture of activity and presentation", "The course package was sufficient", "Found out the resources available to members", "Helped me understand what I needed to do", "Presentation was excellent especially the variety in the topics".

If you are interested in becoming a member of Women's Council Committee there are still vacancies in some electorates. Any interested women should contact the Women's Unit on 02 9220 0906 or women@psa.asn.au for a nomination form.