Labor will push for women to receive equal pay to men through a raft of changes to increase pay orders in female-dominated industries.
On the final day of Labor’s conference the shadow minister for women, Tanya Plibersek, and workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor will announce changes to restructure the Fair Work Commission and enshrine equal pay as an objective of the Fair Work Act.
In addition to the new objective – which will be considered in all pay decisions, including on the minimum wage and penalty rates – the bar for making an equal pay order will be lowered to boost pay in industries such as early childhood and aged care and disability services.
If elected, Labor will appoint a second Fair Work Commission president, who will preside over a pay equity panel to decide on equal pay cases, guided by a new equal remuneration principle.
Under the current system, employees and unions applying to raise women’s pay in line with men’s must first show women in that industry are underpaid compared with men performing work of equal or comparable value.
However, as Plibersek has previously argued, the system doesn’t correct for male and female workers both being paid less because an industry is female-dominated. For example, early-childhood educators can be paid $20 less an hour than metalworkers despite both requiring three-year qualifications.
In a statement Plibersek and O’Connor said: “We don’t need to compare female-dominated jobs with male-dominated jobs to know that female-dominated industries are often poorly paid – that’s just a fact.
“Low-paid workers should not have to rely on fighting complex, expensive legal cases to secure a decent wage rise.
“We will change the Fair Work Act to make it clear that establishing undervaluation of female-dominated industries does not require a male comparator.”
According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, women working full-time earn on average about 16% less than men, a figure that rises to 21% when total remuneration is considered.
“One of the key drivers of the gap is the fact work in traditionally female-dominated industries is undervalued,” Plibersek and O’Connor said.
“The average woman working in the most feminised industries, such as healthcare, social assistance and education, is paid around $30,000 less than the average man working in the most male-dominated industries such as mining and construction.”
Since 1994 21 applications for equal pay have been made to the industrial tribunal but only one resulted in an equal pay order. In 2012 social and community services workers were awarded a pay rise when the Gillard Labor government promised to fund the increase.
Labor will also introduce a pay-equity unit in the commission to provide expert research on equal pay. Labor has already promised a $400m boost for women’s superannuation and a ban on pay secrecy clauses.
On 28 November the women’s minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, said the Coalition had delivered “a record level” of women participating in the workforce.
“We have also … seen the gender pay gap decrease under our government, but it increased under the previous Labor government,” she said.
“So despite all of Labor’s talk their record is not strong.”
