ACTU secretary Sally McManus says that unions doubt that the current system for equal pay cases will ever be able to address under-valuation of work in feminised industries.
In an important ruling on out-of-hours conduct, the FWC has found that an employer didn't need to receive a complaint before investigating then sacking a worker for sharing a p--nographic video via social media with friends who included 19 male and female work colleagues.
On the heels of this week's rejection of a United Voice and AEU equal pay bid for childcare workers, the IEU on Monday heads to the FWC to press its separate claim on behalf of 12,000 university-qualified teachers employed in long day care centres and preschools.
An FWC full bench has today thrown out a United Voice and AEU equal pay claim for childcare workers after finding a 2005 work value case was insufficient, in the absence of contemporary evidence, to establish metalworkers as an appropriate comparator.
In a reply submission ahead of an FWC full bench hearing in Sydney tomorrow, United Voice and the AEU have hit out at employers' objections to the use of a 2005 work value case to establish metalworkers as an appropriate comparator in their equal pay claim for early childhood workers.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency says "remarkable" growth in employers analysing their data for gender pay gaps means more than half now have formal strategies to address imbalances, but its annual scorecard reveals the overall $26,527 gender pay gap has decreased only marginally.
United Voice has asked the FWC to go ahead with a preliminary hearing on whether metalworkers are a suitable comparator in their equal pay claim for early childhood workers, but the IEU says it won't await the result.
A new report on male engagement in gender equality says men are less likely to recognise s-xism in the workplace, recommending close monitoring of contributions to decision-making, the quality of male/female relationships and the impact and extent of caring responsibilities as strategies to increase awareness.
A Senate Committee's call for a target date for full gender pay equity has been seized upon by the union pursuing a four-year long equal-remuneration case before the FWC, but found little support from business or Government members on the Labor-dominated committee.
The Federal Government should consider requiring APS agencies to report to the WGEA on their performance against gender equality targets, University of NSW researcher Sue Williamson told an IR academics' conference this month.
