We have a long way to go and must never let up, but unions are making good progress on closing the gender pay gap and achieving equity in the workplace, writes IEU member and former rep Richard Linton.
It has been just over six years since the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary Sally McManus addressed the National Press Club to launch the Change the Rules campaign. Central to the campaign’s goals were gender equality provisions on salary, superannuation, paid parental leave and domestic and family violence leave.
How has the country fared? How have the preschool and school education sectors fared?
Pay gap data published
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) Gender Pay Gap (GPG) and the Australian Bureau of Statistic’s (ABS) GPG are the primary sources of research and data into pay inequity in the workplace.
WGEA publishes four different figures related to the pay gap, and a thorough exploration of pay equity, more specifically pay inequity, would include an in-depth analysis of ABS and all four WGEA metrics.
For simplicity, the ACTU recently used the ABS Gender Pay Gap, so references to headline gender pay gap refer to this. As the ABS does not provide sector-based gender pay gap data, it is sourced from WGEA Median Total Remuneration GPG. Nationally, the current pay gap is 11.5% and in the preschool and school education sector it is 8.3%.
Causes of the pay gap
The gender pay gap can largely be attributed to the under-representation of women in higher-paid management and executive positions in the education sector, and the significant over-representation of women in traditionally lower-paid positions such as clerical and administration and teachers’ aides roles.
These lower-paid positions are vital in the operation of preschool and school settings yet are undervalued by employers and under-represented in union membership. This is a challenge for state and national union branches, but one that can be supported at a local level.
In my time as an IEU rep, non-teaching membership density at my school increased because I built on existing relationships by listening to the concerns of staff, which helped amplify their voices to improve working conditions.
Through building the capacity and activity of our membership base, we can continue to advocate and fight for improved conditions, especially for our lowest paid members, who are overwhelmingly women.
Paid parental leave
Paid parental leave (PPL) entitlements are varied in the non-government education sector across Australia. While the length of PPL is consistent with the statutory minimum, the rate of pay is not.
Some IEU branches have been successful in negotiating PPL at the employee’s nominal rate of pay, as opposed to the national minimum wage. While this inconsistency exists, industry progress in winning conditions above the statutory minimum is positive.
The 2024 Budget announcement that PPL will gradually be extended to 26 weeks by 2026 is in line with claims from the Change the Rules campaign: a big win for the union movement.
The challenge for the IEU across Australia is for branches who have negotiated PPL at the employee’s nominal rate of pay to maintain that level, and in states where the statutory minimum is paid, that the union and its members continue to fight for improved provisions for PPL.
Retirement savings
The ACTU has been campaigning for many years to prevent women retiring in poverty.
At a national level, there has not been the same conversation around the gender gap in retirement savings.
Largely, traditional family dynamics remain, with women still the primary carers for children, resulting in extended periods out of the workforce and therefore lower superannuation balances at retirement. This is exacerbated as the average lifespan of women is longer than men and thus women must make do for longer with less.
The federal government announcement that superannuation will be paid for the entirety of PPL is certainly a welcome improvement for all workers.
However, this is paid at the minimum wage as opposed to an employee’s nominal salary and for up to 26 weeks (by 2026). Does this sufficiently recognise the invaluable role a parent fulfills in raising a child? Should a parent be disadvantaged in retirement for raising a family?
Thankfully, unions across the country are committed to improving women’s retirement savings by winning entitlements above the statutory minimum. Across IEU agreements, provisions relating to payment of superannuation on PPL and Unpaid Parental Leave vary between the statutory minimum and superannuation paid for up to 52 weeks.
During the current cost-of-living crisis, retirement savings may not be foremost in our minds, but it is something that impacts us all, specifically our quality of life in retirement.
Family and domestic violence leave
As of 1 February 2023, all Australian workers became entitled to up to 10 days per year of Family and Domestic Violence Leave (FDVL). This was a huge step forward for those escaping domestic and family violence – overwhelmingly women.
The previous Coalition government was steadfast in its refusal to adopt FDVL as a universal right in the National Employment Standards. The Attorney General at the time, Michaelia Cash, claimed it would “lead to fewer women being employed and act as a perverse disincentive for employers”. But what was perverse was the Coalition government’s commitment to avoid FDVL mandates for businesses at the expense of victims of family and domestic violence.
However, is 10 days enough time to pack up a life, escape to a safe setting and begin to rebuild? Some IEU branches have negotiated FDVL beyond the statutory minimum. The extended safety net provides (mainly) women with greater time to escape and begin to heal and rebuild.
National reckoning
How are we doing as a nation? Much of the progress on the gender equity provisions in the Change the Rules campaign has been made under a Labor federal government. All its provisions have either been implemented or legislated for future implementation.
How is the education sector faring with collective bargaining? The gender pay gap is narrowing, but there is still more work to be done.
Entitlements relating to paid parental leave and family and domestic violence leave vary across the country. The variation in superannuation payments on paid and unpaid parental leave is significant.
In many agreements, the IEU has negotiated entitlements over and above statutory minimums and this must be celebrated. However, much work still needs to be done on gender equity to ensure no one is left behind.
The reality is that gender equity affects all workers, and all workers need to take up the challenge to fight for this. We must continue to recruit, organise and amplify our collective voice to progress towards gender equity.
IEU member and former rep Richard Linton is the School and Early Childhood Program Co-ordinator at the Teacher Learning Network. Richard has 17 years’ experience in the classroom and in 2023 he won the IEU Victoria Tasmania HSR Award for his work on gendered violence. He is nearing completion of a Graduate Certificate in Industrial Relations at Charles Sturt University.
References
Record low gender pay gap closing three times faster under Labor than Coalition, media release, 15 August 2024
Workplace Gender Equality Authority, 2024, WGEA Data Explorer
Australian businesses lead the way in paid family and domestic violence leave, The Guardian Australia, 11 November 2021
Paying super on Government Paid Parental Leave to enhance economic security and gender equity, Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth, Address to Parliament on the Paid Parental Leave Amendment, 22 August 2024.
