WOMEN EARN $150 a week less than male employees and the Government’s planned changes to the award system will make the lack of fair pay for working women even worse, according to the ACTU
WOMEN EARN $150 per week less than male employees and the Government’s planned changes to the award system will make the lack of fair pay for working women even worse, according to the ACTU.
Commenting on the release of a Victorian Government report on pay equity for women, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said one of the major challenges facing Australian women remains the unfairness of the low wages typically paid to women at work.
“On average, women working full-time are paid 15 per cent less than male colleagues and earn an average of $150 a week less than men,” Burrow said.
“The gender pay gap is not getting better and changes in the job market mean that more and more women are being employed as casuals and in low paid jobs.”
Around a third of all working mothers are employed casually and have no access to a paid day off when they or a family member is sick, or to paid leave for annual holidays, she added. Research has found that over the last three years, more than half of new jobs for women paid less $500 a week
“The Federal Government’s planned changes to workplace laws will make matters worse for working women,” Burrow said.
“Crucially, the Government is considering scrapping skills-based award rates of pay that have been essential in narrowing the gender pay gap for women in female-dominated occupations such as childcare workers and librarians.”
Historically, Burrow said, women in these occupations have been underpaid when compared with male-oriented occupations of similar complexity and skills.
Rob Hulls, Victorian Minister for Industrial Relations, said that nearly twice as many women relied on awards to determine their wages, and any further reduction in award conditions would have a disproportionate impact on them.
While deregulation of the labour market has resulted in a growth in casual employment, the proposed attempt to decrease the 20 award allowable matters would be a blow for women, he said.
“At a time when the Howard Government is complaining about a shortage of workers, it actively discriminates against women’s participation in the workforce by treating them as second class citizens.”
The Victorian Government report found that women who work part-time are paid 18.4 per cent less than men, and Hulls said he would raise his concerns with Federal Minister Kevin Andrews at the next Workplace Relations Ministerial Council in April.
“While [Andrews] is set to further reduce the safeguards in the Federal legislation, Victoria will argue that the legislation as it stands is failing women,”he said.
