The Council welcomes the announcement by the Prime Minister today that the Federal Government will fund their share of the equal pay wage case for community service workers currently before the WA Industrial Relations Commission.
“We are pleased that the Prime Minister has responded to the calls by The Council and the Australian Services Union to extend equal pay wage increases to community workers in Western Australia,” said Irina Cattalini, CEO of WACOSS today.
“Many WA workers were not eligible for funding committed last year when the Fair Work Commission awarded increases of 23-45% over 8 years to community sector workers covered by the Federal award system – due to the Federal Government excluding those covered by the WA industrial relations system from equal remuneration funding.”
“This has been creating significant challenges for community services delivering critical front-line support to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our community – who have struggled to retain skilled and dedicated but underpaid workers in the face of rising living costs and higher wages in other sectors.”
“We would like to see the Commonwealth allocate funding equitably for all community sector workers in WA, regardless of which IR system they are in, to make the implementation of pay rises as simple as possible for community sector employers.”
“Today’s announcement means that we should be able to deliver fair and decent wages to all community service workers in Western Australia – recognising the important contribution they make to the health and well-being of the Western Australian community,” she concluded.
Media Contact
Irina Cattalini, WACOSS CEO 0422 422 438 or (08) 9420 7222
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