CLW welcomes the historic Equal pay agreement for community and
services workers
The Australian Centre for Leadership for Women (CLW) welcomes the
announcement that the Gillard Government is prepared to provide over $2
billion to deliver an historic pay rise to 150,000 of
Minister Ellis said,
“Workers
in this sector have been underpaid for too long because their work was
viewed as women's work. They work in incredibly challenging jobs,
including:
"
Working with people with disabilities
"
Counselling families in crisis
"
Running homeless shelters
"
Working with victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.
They
deserve to be properly rewarded for their work. The historic case
currently before Fair Work Australia was only made possible because
Labor removed the barriers to pay equity claims in the federal
jurisdiction. Previously, an applicant had to prove discrimination, and
the legal test only allowed comparison between "equal work" rather than
the new broader test of "equal or comparable work. As a result, no equal
remuneration case has to date succeeded under federal workplace
relations law."
The Government will put a joint submission on equal pay with the
Australian Services Union to the independent umpire, Fair Work
Australia. If the submission is accepted, the increases would be
phased-in over six years, starting on 1 December next year.
Sex Discrimination
Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, said the announcement that the
Government and the Australian Services Union will make a joint
submission to Fair Work Australia, on equal pay for the community and
services sector, was a historic milestone in gender equality.
Speaking at the Canberra
Rape Crisis Centre Gala Fundraising Lunch on Thursday 11 November 11, Commissioner Broderick said,
“This agreement will contribute to equal pay for more than 150 000
community sector workers across the country, particularly those working
in health and caring service industries.”
“From a gender equality
perspective, this is significant because the vast majority of these
workers are women.”
In May 2011, Fair Work
Australia found that social and community services workers do not
receive remuneration equal to that of employees of state and local
governments who perform similar work, and that gender has been important
in creating that pay gap.
Ms Broderick
said equal remuneration for work of equal value was not only a human
right, of which many women in
“It is
indisputable that the work of the community and services sector, which
takes in the health and caring industries, is some of the most important
in
The case before Fair
Work Australia, brought by the Australian Services Union and others for
an equal remuneration order in the social and community services
industry, is the country’s first equal pay test case under the new
legislation.
Commissioner Broderick
said the Australian Human Rights Commission welcomed the agreement.
ACTU President Ged Kearney said that the announcement by Prime Minister
Julia Gillard was a landmark day for the thousands of social and
community sector (SACS) workers, who do important but traditionally
undervalued work for the community’s benefit.
“Today’s commitment from the government to fund its share of pay rises
averaging 20% and up to 33% in some cases for social and community
sector workers is an historic milestone on the road towards true equal
pay,” Ms Kearney said.
“It is
a win for those workers and their unions who have been determined to
gain wage justice in the SACS industry.
“We are
talking about workers who are mostly women and who look after the
homeless, the disabled, refugees, domestic violence victims, children at
risk and other vulnerable people in our society.
“This is
difficult and demanding work, yet this female-dominated industry is one
of the lowest paid in
Australia's peak
community and social services body has welcomed the agreement between
the ASU and the Australian Government in the Equal Pay Case as an
historic moment for people who work with some of the most vulnerable
members in the community.
"We congratulate the Prime Minister and Government on this important announcement as a welcome step towards securing equal pay for the workforce that is so vital to providing effective community services across Australia," said Dr Cassandra Goldie, CEO of ACOSS.
"Millions of people in this country living with mental illness, drug and alcohol problems, insecure housing or homelessness and domestic violence seek the support of community services every day. ACOSS has long advocated for adequate funding to ensure effective, sustainable services with experienced workers to meet these needs.
"The announcement of a joint commitment on pay rates and that the Commonwealth will fully fund its fair share of higher wage costs is a significant breakthrough, as is the Commonwealth's commitment to work with states and territories towards their share of funding.
"We also understand that there will be support for industry assistance to transition to new arrangements. This will need to include funding for those services that do not rely on government funding but which provide vital services to the community. This is another welcome element of the announcement as there is much work to be done to support services through implementation, both in the resolution of the equal pay case and it's flow on effects for areas like the modern award.
Australian Human Rights Commission; ACTU; ACOSS