Thérèse Bryant recently retired after an amazing contribution to our Union for many decades.
Thérèse commenced work with the SDA more than 35 years ago, bringing with her an incredibly strong sense of fairness and social justice. She became active in the Union because she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.
In her role as National Women’s Officer, Thérèse’s more recent work had a particular focus on our women members.
She worked tirelessly to achieve improvements in both industrial and anti-discrimination legislation to advance the rights of women at work, including:
- Working on the 1979 industrial court case for unpaid maternity leave, and subsequently the achievement of unpaid paternity and adoption leave;
- Pursuing the right for women to be able to wear slacks to work, which led to a successful industrial court case in 1979;
- Increasing the participation of women at all levels of the Union, and the introduction of Women’s officers and Women’s committees;
- Lobbying for, and achievement of increases in family assistance payments by the federal government;
- The introduction of legislation to make discrimination and sexual harassment illegal;
- Developing policies, educational material and training in companies and unions regarding equal employment opportunities and sexual harassment;
- The introduction of compulsory superannuation (company pension payments);
- The introduction of paid family/carer’s leave in collective agreements and industrial legislation;
- The introduction of laws to make pregnancy discrimination at work illegal, as well as an increased focus on accommodating the needs of pregnant workers, including providing them with safe work;
- Achieving the requirement for companies to consider family responsibilities when establishing or changing employee rosters in SDA Enterprise Agreements;
- The achievement of Paid Maternity Leave for most working mothers, paid by the government;
- The introduction of legislation requiring employers to report on gender equality in the workplace;
- Raising awareness regarding domestic violence and its impact on members at work.
As part of her role as the National Women’s Officer of the SDA, Thérèse oversaw the SDA National Women’s Committee, which pursues issues important to our women members, and ensures that this results in continued change and improvements in the work that we undertake on behalf of women members and the lives of working women more broadly.
Thérèse was involved in advancing the rights of women at work in the broader union movement, particularly in her role as Chair of the ACTU Women’s Committee.
She also actively represented the Union on various government working groups and committees, and made numerous submissions to government inquiries and legislative committees.
Some of her work in this area included:
- Advising the Federal Government in regard to its paid parental leave scheme, the Workplace Gender Equality Act, family friendly provisions in the Fair Work Act; and anti-discrimination legislation;
- Being a member of an expert panel for the Australian Human Rights Commission on sexual harassment in the workplace;
- Participating on the Reference Group of the National Review of Pregnancy at Work and Returning to Work after Parental Leave.
Thérèse also represented the Union on an international level as a member of both the World and Asia Pacific Region Women’s Committees of Union Network International, and its predecessor the International Federation of Employees, Technicians and Managers (FIET) for 16 years, including holding the position of Vice President of the World Women’s Committee.
In this role, Thérèse was able to effectively influence the activities of unions around the world in the advancement of women’s rights.
During her time with the SDA, Thérèse also made a significant contribution in the area of Education and Training, holding positions on various education and training boards.
The SDA would like to thank Thérèse for her perseverance and the unwavering passion she displayed in her representation of SDA members and the broader union movement.
Thérèse has made a significant contribution to achieving improvements in the lives of working people, and in particular, women.
We wish Thérèse and her family all the very best for her retirement and that this next phase in her life is full of the joy and happiness she deserves.