For several years, our union has stood side by side with Rosie Batty in the fight to recognise the impact of family violence and to embed initiatives like paid domestic violence leave in workplace agreements. Rosie’s work deserves our respect.
John Setka should resign if any of the allegations against him are true. The comments attributed to him do not reflect the values of our union movement or the VTHC Solidarity Statement which has been adopted by the Vic Tas Branch of the ASU. The alleged comments are abhorrent to victim survivors of family violence and thousands of ASU members who work on the frontline in the family violence sector. We know that a key driver of gendered based violence is disrespect for women and girls. We stand with our members who work across the family violence sector to strongly advocate for reform to systemic discrimination which sees perpetrators held to account for their actions and stop victim blaming.
We are proud that the ASU is full of strong women and strong men who fight together every day for change. And the strength of character and courage of our convictions is the reason we delivered a world first domestic violence leave clause within an enterprise agreement. We continue to push for the roll out of entitlements and recognition that family violence is a workplace issue and have pursued numerous claims in bargaining gained at achieving gender equality for women at work.
We are the only union with a full time paid Women’s Officer, and affirmative action is embedded in our rules ensuring that women occupy at least 50% of all elected positions in the union.
If you’re interested in our submission to the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence, you can read it here.
And if you want to know about our role in Victorian Trades Hall Council gendered violence program, or just want to help us to push for better workplace policy to recognise family violence, please contact Punita Boardman at pboardman@asuvictas.com.au
In solidarity against family violence,
Lisa Darmanin, ASU Branch Secretary
Billy King, ASU Branch Executive President
