Equal Pay—What Happened?

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Abstract
Following the equal pay decisions of 1969, 1972 and 1974, equality in award wages between the sexes was widely assumed to have been achieved in Australia, but this assumption may be incorrect. In this paper the historical discrimination inherent in Australia's wage fixing system is briefly described. Statistics on minimum award wages and the records of the federal and two state Industrial Commissions are used to show how equalpay was implemented from 1950 onwards. The implementation of the 1972 equal pay for work of equal value decision is examined in some detail to reveal how the decision was not fully applied to female-intensive work areas. This resulted from the way work value has been traditionally approached in Australia and the failure of unions to bring the necessary cases to the Commission. A nurses' award is compared with four male awards to show how the nurses soon lost most of what they gained from equal pay. Finally, the 1986 Australian Capital Territory and Victorian nurses' cases are used to show how, when unions press the case for equal pay, and present it competently, advances can be achieved within the present centralized wage fixing system.

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