Unions lead closing the gender pay gap

The ACTU has updated its wage increase claim to the Annual Wage Review in its "reply submission".

The claim seeks to close the gender pay gap in "early childhood education, education and health support services, veterinary care and disability home care, among others".

There is a big gender pay gap in these industries because the workforce is mainly women using sophisticated skills as a normal feature of their day-to-day work.

The "reply submission "phase of the Annual Wage Review enables applicants to amend their first submissions.

Here, I summarize and discuss the first submissions from the ACTU, employers and a non-union worker agency.

Here is a good summary of the ACTU's adapted claim.

In its Annual Wage Review, the Fair Work Commission has the power to make different industry-specific or award-specific wage increases.

Also, the changes to the Fair Work Act introduced by the Labor government in late 2022 require the FWC in its AWR to take into account gender-based discrimination in wages in making its decisions.