Valuing care in Australia

  Social and community services (SACS) workers are currently fighting for a substantial increase in their award wages. The Equal Remuneration Case before Fair Work Australia (FWA) is an historic one which seeks to rectify decades of undervaluation. The pay gap between SACS workers and comparable workers in government employment has recently been acknowledged by FWA; however, an equal remuneration order is yet to be handed down. It will be argued here that the low pay endemic to the SACS sector is primarily the result of two factors: the sector’s link to its volunteer past, and its highly feminised character, of which only the latter has been thoroughly considered in the present pay equity case. In exploring these issues, this paper will outline the relationship between voluntarism and gender pay inequity in the SACS sector, and detail the evolution of the current pay equity case. Further, it will be argued that when FWA ultimately grants an award increase, it is incumbent upon governments, both state and federal, to subsidise the additional wage-related costs to employers. Image: Tulane Publications / flick