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Australia – Changes to workplace laws will worsen gender pay gap

02 September 2014

The current average pay gap between men and women (18.2%) will worsen under the Government’s proposed changes to workplace laws due before the Senate this week, according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

Ged Kearney, President of ACTU, said women face particular risk of being exploited under Individual Flexible Arrangements (IFAs), which are a key part of the Abbott Government’s Fair Work Amendment Bill.

Flexible working arrangements give certain employees the right to request changes to their hours of work, patterns of work, and locations of work. Currently, employees who have worked for the same employer for at least 12 months can request flexible working arrangements is they are a parent to a young child, a carer, have a disability, or are aged 55 or older. 

Ms Kearney stated: “These arrangements are individual contracts that let employers use women’s caring responsibilities against them by forcing them to trade off penalty rates (higher rates of pay for working overtime or non-standard hours) for the ability to pick up their child in time from childcare, for example.”

“Now the Government wants to go even further by making employees sign a statement that will mean they can’t get compensation if they’ve been underpaid as a result of trading off entitlements under an unfair agreement.”

“Currently it’s the employer’s responsibility to make sure the employee is better off overall on an individual contract, but the Government is trying to change the law so workers must sign a statement that puts the responsibility on them – not their employer,” she added.

Ms Kearney said the proposed changes to these individual agreements are very similar to the highly unpopular Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs): “What we saw under AWAs was a +2% widening of the gender pay gap. If the Government succeeds in passing the Fair Work Amendment Bill, the already record high 18.2% pay gap will blow out even further, just as it did under AWAs.”

Ms Kearney said the Abbott Government’s push to water down protections and increase opportunities for employers to lower pay and conditions is a direct attack on women’s wages: “The majority of workers who will be signing individual agreements under the proposed changes will be women. Many will be low paid and they will be under pressure to keep their jobs.”

“The proposed changes to the Fair Work Act make individual agreements even worse and will see Australia go backwards on the vital issue of gender equality,” Ms Kearney concluded.