Fair Pay for Female Workers
The Fair Work Commission has prioritised a pay rise for some female-dominated sectors, including childcare.
BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE
Early childhood education and care is one of those sectors where female workers vastly outnumber male workers, and although this gender imbalance isn’t a bad thing, what these women are being paid certainly can be.
The Children’s Services Award 2010 sets the pay level low for a lot of childcare workers.
And although quality childcare providers pay above Award, and there’s a 15% wage rise currently being rolled out, it’s great to see the Fair Work Commission focusing on pay equity and recommending a substantial wage rise for thousands of childcare workers.
The Fair Work Commission has been investigating women’s wages for a while.
Back in 2022, the Albanese government legislated to make gender equality an objective of the Fair Work Commission; and since June 2024, the Commission has been conducting a Gender-based Undervaluation – Priority Awards Review.
This has involved its Expert Panel looking at five priority Awards in the care and community sector, including the Children’s Services Award 2010.
The Expert Panel has reviewed different Award classifications and minimum wage rates, and their initial decision now confirms that:
- Gender-based undervaluation is happening under the Children’s Services Award 2010 (and four others); and
- There’s good reason to vary the minimum wage rates to address it.
The Fair Work Commission’s initial decision has only just been released, and their views are provisional. However, there’s the promise of a big pay rise for thousands of early childhood workers.
The Review proposes a ‘new and simplified classification and wage rate structure’ for Children’s Services Employees (CSEs), which would mean that the Caring Skills benchmark rate (of $1269.80 per week) would be the minimum weekly wage rate for Certificate III-qualified employees.
The Review suggests that this pay rise should be phased in over five years, starting with a 5% increase from 1 August 2025.
And it says the total increase to the minimum wage rate for a Certificate III-qualified CSE would be 23%.
We’ll wait to see how the Commission’s provisional views progress, and who’s in government after 3 May.
However, this is definitely promising news, and there’s no doubt that more equal pay is long overdue in the childcare sector, and the working world.
