Members of The Services Union at the Queensland Working Women’s Service have been successful in lobbying for funding to continue its vital work.
The State Government will now fund the service which supports vulnerable Queensland female workers in the federal industrial relations system.
It was great news after months of lobbying and campaigning by Services Union members after Federal Minister for Women and Workplace Relations Michaelia Cash cut funding for QWWS.
Cash’s cuts would have meant that 2.5 million Queensland women would no longer have access to help through the service when sacked or mistreated at work.
QWWS was singled out by the federal funding cut, with our State the only one to lose this vital service which has operated under funding from the commonwealth.
Check out the media report on the Service’s fight for funding on 7 News Brisbane.
In an action on International Women’s Day – 8 March – in solidarity with Queensland women and together with women globally striking on IWD, QWWS staff stopped work and had their phone lines diverted to Minister Cash’s office.
Queensland women now need this service more than ever with discrimination against pregnant and parenting women common and living wages recently reduced by up to $6000 per year in the state’s top industries of hospitality and retail, where workers are disproportionately women.
It was great news to reverse a cut that would have targeted the state’s most vulnerable working women.
You can help even more by liking the QWWS Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/wwqld/
