The ACTU welcomes the announcement today that an Albanese Labor Government would take real action to address the failure of our industrial relations system to secure pay equity for women and end the systemic underpayment of workers in women-dominated industries.
Work in critical sectors is systemically undervalued because of sexist assumptions about the value of ‘women’s work’.
The persistent gender pay gap and underpayment of women-dominated industries means that the current cost of living crisis – cause by nearly a decade of low wage growth under the coalition – is cutting deeper into the wages and savings of working women.
We need systemic change to end the gender pay gap and the changes announced by the ALP today are a meaningful step in the right direction after a lost decade under the coalition.
Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil:
“Australian working women are fighting for pay equity against a broken system in desperate need of reform.
“The failure of the Morrison Government on closing the gender pay gap means that women are bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis.
“The changes announced today will create a system which seeks to fix the problem, rather than preserve the status quo.
“We cannot afford to lose another three years to a Morrison Government which fails women on every issue. We need a Government which will do the work to close the gender pay gap.”
