Background

The gap between male and female earnings has been narrowing in Australia for nearly 30 years.

Two test cases, the:

• Equal Pay for Equal Work Case (1969) and

• Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value Case(1972),

established legal principles which have underpinned our wage fixing principles ever since.

The first test case, in 1969, resulted in women doing the same work as men, receiving the same pay.

The Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value Test Case in 1972 established the concept of equal pay for work of equal value - that different jobs which are of the same worth, warrant the same minimum wage.

Since 1994, Australia’s Federal industrial relations legislation has enshrined international principles relating to equal pay.

The Workplace Relations Act includes the Equal Remuneration Convention of the International Labour Office.

The Convention commits Australian workplaces to equal pay principles in our collective agreements and awards.

Why Are We Still Fighting For Equal Pay?

Despite the test case principles for equal pay, many women are still paid less than men for doing the same job, or work of equal value.

There are several reasons for this:

Lack of overawards:

Women are less likely to receive overaward payments than men. Currently, women only receive around 54% of the overaward payments of men.

Overaward payments have often been achieved through industrial militancy or skill shortages in traditionally male-dominated, and highly unionised industries.

Lack of bonuses

Women are less likely to obtain bonuses and benefits added to wages.

Less overtime

More men than women work overtime, due to women being predominantly located in low overtime sectors, and because women traditionally assume a greater share on average of domestic responsibilities.

Though overtime is increasing for women, much of this is unpaid.

Fewer hours

More women than men work part-time, and hence earn a proportion of full-time earnings and are often excluded from other benefits.

Gender segmentation

Gender segmentation of the labour market is greater in Australia than other OECD countries.

This means that women’s employment is concentrated in a much smaller number of occupations and industries than men.

This segmentation leads to assumptions about the types of work that women do, and effects their ability to unionise and access higher pay and improved conditions of employment.

Skill-based career paths

Though many women received increases in pay and relativities through award restructuring, women are more likely to be classified in the lower grades of award based classification structures.

This can occur because of lack of access to accredited training and other qualifications. Even when women have the same qualifications and competency as men, employers often make the wrong assumptions about their work, and classify them at a lower grade.

Women working in female dominated industries are often not union members, and have therefore not had someone to fight on their behalf.

In some industries, appropriate career paths are yet to be developed.

Comparable worth

Some female dominated occupations and skills have been traditionally undervalued. For example, child care workers are generally low paid, despite their degree of skill and responsibility.

Junior rates

Traditionally young women have been a higher proportion than young men of all junior workers, and are therefore more likely to receive junior rates.

Access to superannuation

Women are less likely than men to have superannuation additional to the Government's minimum schedule.

The new $900 per month threshold of earnings will exclude more part-time and casual women workers from superannuation.

Reliance on State systems

Many women work in industries such as health, which have been based on state award systems.

Since the early 1990s, many states have stripped back the conditions available to these workers - resulting in several thousand state based workers transferring to the Federal system under the former Federal Government.

Women continue to be disproportionately disadvantaged by lower wages and conditions from state based systems.

Wage Equity And The Accord

The period of the Accord 1983-1996 saw a slow but steady narrowing of the pay gap between men and women workers:

• the gap between average weekly ordinary time earnings of full-time workers almost halved (12.6% to 7.6%)

• the gap between award wage rates for full-time adult workers almost halved (10.1% to 3.9%)

• the gap between overaward payments reduced by a third (66% to 45%).

Women workers also benefited from changes in other components of earnings. For example, women workers increased their access to overtime, which had long contributed to the higher earnings of male workers.

Importance Of The Role Of Unions

Female union members enjoy a "wage premium" associated with the efforts of unions to achieve equal pay.

Source: ABS Catalogue No. 6325.0, August 1994

A strong union movement, combined with the safety net of awards, has been of significant benefit to women workers.

The Accord, combined with a system of collective bargaining, resulted in benefits and protections to lower paid workers, many of whom are women.

These benefits included the introduction of supplementary payments, and skill-based classifications structures and career paths, through award restructuring.

The New Workplace Relations Act

The new Workplace Relations Act maintains commitment to the ILO Equal Remuneration Convention. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission also retains the power to make orders relating to equal pay, including overaward payments.

However, equal pay is not just an issue of minimum rates, overaward payments and allowances. There are several threats to the achievement of equal pay under the new Act:

• The limitation on award matters under s.89A - “allowable matters” - may lead to less direct forms of discrimination and wage disparity for women;

• the exclusion of training from the list of allowable matters, may require workers to meet vocational training requirements from their own wages, and could result in the undermining of skill related career paths and relativities addressed through award restructuring;

• The regulation of part-time work has been severely diminished - the uncertain patterns of hours and earnings for part-time workers may result in irregular income or a reduction in take-home pay;

• the abolition of paid rates awards will particularly affect women in public sector areas such as teaching and nursing;

• the emphasis on individual contracts under the Act, through Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) will leave many women workers vulnerable to diminished pay and conditions - many women in smaller organisations may find it difficult to negotiate a fair contract.

Pursuing Equal Pay Under The Workplace Relations Act

Under the new legislation, unions can still seek orders granting equal remuneration for work of equal value.

Remuneration includes all aspects of pay, including over-award payments and other employment benefits.

• The principle of equal pay for work of equal value remains;
• There is still protection from "unfair dismissal" on grounds including gender, marital status, family responsibilities;
• The Commission must consider complaints of discrimination in awards or agreements referred by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner (in accordance with the Sex Discrimination Act).

The ACTU and unions have investigated and settled several pay equity cases across a range of industries.

Some successes have included:

• female clerical workers winning increases in overaward payments, bringing them up to the equivalent of a tradespersons rate under the award;

• a woman compositor at a Melbourne newspaper received a pay increase of $54, bringing her in line with men doing the same job; and

• 44 process workers at a Sydney manufacturing plant were granted increases following a case run by the AMWU.

The ACTU is supporting unions in running future equal pay cases, and will continue to pursue examples of discrimination through the Industrial Relations Commission.

Trends In Enterprise Bargaining

Equal pay provisions have not generally been negotiated through enterprise agreements.

In 1995, the NTEU negotiated an agreement with a number of universities which included commitment to a national gender pay equity study.

The most important way in which enterprise agreements address pay equity, is by formalising overaward payments which apply to all workers covered by the agreement. This overcomes the often informal and inequitable overawards paid to men and women.

Paid family leave provisions are common in enterprise agreements, and access to paid parental leave is on the increase. Such initiatives clearly contribute to the ability of women to balance their work and family responsibilities, whilst maintaining a consistent income.

However, trends in increased hours provisions are of concern.

Department of Industrial Relations data shows that hours of work provisions are the most common condition negotiated in enterprise agreements.

An increase in flexible working hours provisions can have a detrimental affect on women workers, who are required to work longer hours, without notice or agreement, and often for no increase in pay.

DIR data suggests that 42% of workers covered by enterprise agreements are women. From the latest comprehensive data available, (in 1995) women are receiving slightly lower pay increases than men. In 1995, the average annual pay increase for women under federal agreements was 4.3% (compared to 4.4% for males).

This differential is compounded by the evidence that women were more likely to have increases in hours with no commensurate pay increase.

These developments are an incentive for enterprise bargaining to be better utilised in order to improve the gender pay gap.

Enterprising Ideas September 1997. Labour Information Network, ACTU.