Workers United

Talking: The Voice to Parliament Exclusive audio from the Queensland Unions International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) event on 11 March where Brisbane unionists and supporters gathered to hear about feminist history and continue progressing the fight for gender equality in our communities.Kaurna Woman Rachel Bos shares her story and talks about the upcoming referendum on constitutional recognition and a Voice to Parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women – including a moving reading of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.Rachel is a mother, partner, daughter, sister and Aunty. Currently she is seconded from the Queensland Teachers’ Union to the Australian Council of Trade Unions as their First Nations Educator/Organiser for the Unions for Yes! Campaign. She was a proud State School teacher for 20 years. Rachel lists her hobbies as swearing on plates, writing, gardening, fighting the patriarchy and slaying colonial paradigms.

Talking: Industrial justice for womenExclusive audio from the Queensland Unions International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) event on 11 March where Brisbane unionists and supporters gathered to hear about feminist history and continue progressing the fight for gender equality in our communities.Jacqueline King talks about fighting for justice for women at home and at work, covering the industrial landscape in Queensland, the key wins in recent times and the fights and struggles ahead.Jacqueline is the Acting General Secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, the peak body for 25 affiliated unions representing over 380,000 union members in Queensland. She took on the role after previously serving as QCU Assistant Secretary from 2020.She has worked for several unions, held senior roles with the Queensland Council of Unions and the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and worked within government.Jacqueline is passionate about workers’ rights and in particular work health and safety, mental health, gender equity and sexual harassment matters at work.

Exclusive audio from the Queensland Unions International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) event on 11 March where Brisbane unionists and supporters gathered to hear about feminist history and continue progressing the fight for gender equality in our communities.Honourable Shannon Fentiman MP shares her perspective on the challenges facing working women.Shannon Fentiman is Queensland’s Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence. She is also the Ministerial Champion for Torres Strait.A strong advocate for social justice, Shannon is committed to ensuring all Queenslanders have access to justice and equality before the law. Shannon will use this term as Attorney-General to review, modernise and update laws so they better reflect Queensland’s diversity and evolving social framework.Shannon holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws. She was admitted as a legal practitioner in 2007 and has worked as an employment lawyer prior to her election to Parliament.

Exclusive audio from the Queensland Unions International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) event on 11 March where Brisbane unionists and supporters gathered to hear about feminist history and continue progressing the fight for gender equality in our communities.Senator Larissa Waters shares her perspective on the challenges facing working women.Larissa Waters is the first Greens Senator for Queensland and is the Greens Leader in the Senate and co-deputy Leader of the Australian Greens. Senator Waters is passionate about representative democracy and public participation, accountability in government, equality for women, and protecting our environment. As Leader of the Greens in the Senate she is working to improve federal laws to put an end to domestic violence, transition to renewable energy sources, and clean up politics by ending corporate donations to political parties.She lives in Brisbane with her two young daughters, the younger of whom caused a bit of a stir when she became the first baby to be breastfed in our federal parliament.

Talking: Equity and inclusion in the workplaceExclusive audio from the Queensland Unions International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) event on 11 March where Brisbane unionists and supporters gathered to hear about feminist history and continue progressing the fight for gender equality in our communities.Zoe Russell shares their experience as an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.Zoe is a queer, non-binary Union officer from United Workers Union (UWU). Zoe specialises in supporting members within the Department of Education and is an active member of the UWU Equity, Diversity and Inclusion team as well as a proud member of QCU Pride.In their spare time Zoe practices burlesque and photographs live music concerts. Passionate about issues that affect women and gender non-conforming people within and outside the workplace.

Talking: Women workers with a disabilityExclusive audio from the Queensland Unions International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) event on 11 March where Brisbane unionists and supporters gathered to hear about feminist history and continue progressing the fight for gender equality in our communities.Beth shares her experience as a disability advocate about the challenges facing people with disability in the workplace.Dr Beth O'Brien is a disability advocate and speaker with lived experience as a person with disability and full-time electric wheelchair user. With a PhD in Social Psychology, Beth has always been interested in human behaviour and understanding the impact of biases and representation on authentic inclusion.As an advocate, Beth has been involved in discussions with key business leaders about creating inclusive spaces and highlighted through media appearances the importance of normalising disability. Beth is also the co-founder of consultable, which works with businesses to create and maintain accessible services, experiences and physical and digital spaces that cater to the diverse needs of people with disability.