Childcare workers agitating for pay increases will walk off the job next month as part of an escalating dispute between unions and the federal government.
On Sunday the union representing early childcare workers, United Voice, will launch a national TV, radio and newspaper campaign asking Australians to back a long-running campaign for equal pay before a strike planned for 27 March.
It will be the third time childcare workers have taken industrial action in the past 12 months, and comes after the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, failed to meet a 1 February deadline set by their union to deliver funding for equal pay.
The action is part of a long-running equal pay campaign. The national gender pay gap in Australia is 15.3%, but female-dominated industries also attract lower wages than those made up of mostly men.
The childcare sector is 97% women but qualified early childhood educators earn some of the lowest wages in the country – the union says as little as $21.29 an hour, slightly above half the national average wage.
United Voice, the union representing child care workers, has driven the equal pay campaign and its assistant general secretary, Helen Gibbons, said the strike would aim to heap pressure on the government to address the gender pay imbalance.
“We are asking the community to stand with us to fight the appalling gender pay gap facing this vital, growing, and important workforce,” she said.
“Educators gave Malcolm Turnbull a deadline to fix the sector’s low levels of pay, and once again he has failed to meet the deadline and let educators down.
“We have an educated, skilled workforce only earning around $21 an hour, that’s half the average wage - and this inequitable situation can no longer be tolerated.”
The union has had an equal pay case before the Fair Work Commission since 2013 but has shifted attention to calling on the government to legislate for equal pay because of the time the case has taken.
The union is seeking a 35% increase for its workers, but the case has become bogged down in hearings. The matter is listed for a full bench hearing in September.
On 27 March some childcare centres will close for the whole day, others will close at lunchtime and yet others will close certain rooms.
More than 3,000 workers walked off the job in September, setting the deadline for the government to intervene.
