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5. Advancing Pay Equity in Queensland

Should the Queensland Government consider specific pay equity initiatives for its own employees and provide a lead for the private sector?

Yes.

We believe there are a number of initiatives that could be adopted by the Queensland Government in relation to their own employees and also in providing a lead for the private sector.

Our main recommendation would be the establishment of one body to deal with Pay Equity issues. Currently, these issues are dealt with across a number of portfolios. Any such body would need to be properly and fully resourced with specialist staff to be able to implement and achieve real outcomes for both public and private sector employees in the area of pay equity. It would further need to have sufficient power and authority to police the implementation of any initiatives. This body could implement initiatives in the public sector and fund the implementation of similar initiatives in the private sector. Such a body could develop and promulgate a ‘Code of Practice’ around pay equity issues.

Such a body could be charged with considering and making recommendations on all factors which affect pay equity including:

• Concentration of women in low paid work 
• Precarious employment, ‘flexibility’ and job security 
• Lack of career paths 
• Female characterisation of work 
• Ensuring skills shortages don’t exacerbate pay inequity 
• Absence of effective work value examinations 
• Impact of, and measures to address low unionisation 
• Lack of or inadequate recognition of qualifications 
• Lack of available, affordable child care and other community services 
• Whole of life earnings 
• Welfare to work considerations 
• Industrial legislation and access to redress

Government departments and statutory authorities should be required to develop plans to achieve real pay equity and address barriers to same. This would require real resources, so it didn’t just become another bureaucratic reporting arrangement. Specialist staff from a centralised body could be made available to assist departments in dealing with this.

There should be a requirement when assessing the scope to privatise current publicly provided services to ensure organisations seeking to provide those services prove that their workers would not be disadvantaged or lose conditions or rights as a result of WorkChoices, or enter into arrangements, such as Deeds of Agreement which provide for the application of wages and working conditions equal to the public sector. Such requirements could also include the requirement for an employer to demonstrate both pay equity as well as plans for the achievement of pay equity, for example, plans to seriously re-evaluate the value of work currently undertaken as well as to encourage women to take on non-traditional roles. Similar requirements should exist in contracts with private organisations which provide public services. Changes could be easily be made to State Purchasing Policy to include those requirements for organisations providing goods or services to the state government, as already exist in other states.

A set of principles for the conduct of enterprise bargaining within the public sector should be developed and, in particular, address the impact of ‘attraction and retention’ wage increases, bonuses and allowances on the concept of equal pay for work of comparable value.

Immediate steps should be taken, including the proper allocation of resources, to implement changes to the JEMs system as recommended by the Mercer Consulting Review of the system which was completed in 2006. When this report was completed in early 2006, an indication was given that a Steering Committee which included union representation would be established to review and implement the recommended changes. The Steering Committee has never been formed and no action has been taken to make changes to the methodology or its application.  We would also advocate that further work be conducted on independently reviewing the methodology for gender bias as part of this process. (Whilst the ‘Mercer Review’ did make some positive recommendations in relation to the methodology, they are in fact the owners of the methodology and we believe an independent review of the methodology is still required to be conducted).

The issue of state government funding to organisations also needs to be addressed.  The Queensland Council of Social Service notes that in Queensland: ‘Major differences in wage rates have emerged between government and non government not for profit organisations, due almost entirely to enterprise bargaining and the cumulative effect of negotiated increases in the public sector over time... State government funding needs to recognize this disparity and make provision for an adequate increase in the wages component of funding so that employers are more able to attract and retain employees.’ (Queensland Council of Social Service, Smart State, Fair State: Budget Submission 2007-8, 2006, Page 152). Competitive tendering for services provision, levels of government funding and efficiency and access concerns regarding services act as limits on what pay many organisations can offer.

However, many community services in States and Territories are either seeking or have gained indexation arrangements to funding agreements that will allow for basic increases in wages. We believe funding needs to be at a level that allows organisations to apply equal pay for work of comparable value, especially for services which are provided by both the public and private sector.

A unit dedicated to Pay Equity could also look at initiatives to encourage more women into non-traditional occupations as well as providing funding for the private sector to pursue such initiatives.

Should the Queensland Government consider providing to the private sector information on pay equity similar in content and method to that provided by the Victorian and Western Australian Governments?

Yes, however, we believe such an initiative needs to go much further than the provision of information. A body dedicated to pay equity could, for example, develop and promulgate a Code of Practice, which included strategies the private sector could adopt to achieve pay equity.

Such a body could also develop tools similar to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency’s tool for companies to audit and assess their own pay equity issues. Government funding could be made available to assist companies wishing to undertake such auditing. 

Should consideration be given to the establishment of a pay equity unit on a similar (or other) basis to that established in Western Australia?

As indicated above, we believe it would be appropriate for the Queensland government to establish a Pay Equity Unit which would have broad responsibilities and powers around pay equity.

This would need to be a high level Unit, with actual power, have clear objectives and key performance indicators and be required to consult with stakeholders. Such a Unit should be overseen by a Taskforce consisting of senior Ministers.

Currently, there appears to be little capacity for the fragmented units dealing with women’s issues to effect any real change.

Should the Queensland Government consider the establishment of a Women and Work body that would have responsibility for educating and co-ordinating not only pay equity issues across the whole of government and the private sector but also have responsibility of other issues impacting on women and work?

As indicated above, we believe one body to oversee all aspects of pay equity would be preferable to the establishment of different units. That is, rather than having a “Pay Equity Unit” and a “Women at Work” body, it would be better to establish one unit with overriding responsibility for pay equity issues which does not continue to allow for the marginalisation of these human rights issues as “women’s issues”.

Should the Queensland Government extend its industrial relations compliance obligation to require suppliers to indicate action being taken to identify and rectify pay inequity in their organisations?

Yes.

The compliance obligation, however, would not only need to be extended, it would actually need to be policed for compliance. Currently, State Purchasing Policy is seen as a ‘toothless tiger’ as there is no actual proper monitoring or compliance with the industrial relations obligation. (See for example, the Caboolture Hospital case, where administrative staff have been employed under WorkChoices to work in the Accident and Emergency Department– this has been done, however, Queensland Health have not even checked with the private provider for compliance and no information on the wages and working conditions of these administrative staff has been forthcoming.)  It is not clear whether the government routinely includes a monitoring clause in such contracts, but we believe that a standard requirement be inserted into all future contracts.

What other legislative and/or policy options exist to advance pay equity in Queensland?

The other issue that needs to be examined is mechanisms to promote positive clauses in awards and agreements which deal with Work and Family Responsibilities. Appendix 1 contains a number of model clauses on these issues which could be considered for inclusion in industrial instruments.