Fair Work Commission puts childcare pay bid in limbo

The childcare workers union bid to win pay rises of up to 70 per cent is in limbo as the Fair Work Commission demands details.

A bid by the childcare workers union to win pay rises of as much as 70 per cent is in limbo after a Fair Work Commission ruling raised the bar in equal pay cases.

United Voice last night was pondering the industrial umpire’s decision 2½ years after the union launched its landmark equal remuneration case for the children’s services and early childhood education industry, backed by the Independent Education Union of Australia.

The union asked the FWC to grant pay rises of between 39 per cent and 72 per cent, which could cost the sector about $1.6 billion, arguing that the predominantly female childcare workforce was “undervalued”.

However, in its ruling late yesterday the industrial umpire said the union would need to provide specific evidence to show that women working in childcare were disadvantaged compared with men working in a comparable industry.

The decision overturns a ­decision by the commission’s full bench in 2012 that awarded pay rises of up to 45 per cent to 153,000 social and community workers in a case championed by the Gillard government.

A win for the 68,000 educators caring for about 610,000 children would see wages for the lowest-paid support staff jump from $34,060 to $47,343. A worker with an early childhood diploma and two years’ experience would receive a 71 per cent pay rise to $96,564 and a daycare centre director would get a 72 per cent rise to $106,496 a year.

United Voice assistant ­national secretary David ­McElrea saidyesterday: “We’ll be considering the implications of the judgment and seeking legal advice, but we remain confident that early childcare workers, 98 per cent of whom are women, do deserve a pay rise for their vital work.’’

The union says there is “systemic undervaluation” of the childhood education profession, which is thought of as an extension of women’s caring work in the home.

Employers had warned the case had ramifications beyond the 2012 case as the pay rises sought for childcare workers were higher, and the case had no government backing.

The Abbott government warned in its submission to the FWC that granting the childcare union’s equal pay claim could stymie future enterprise bargaining in the childcare industry.

The Australian Childcare ­Alliance, which had warned that the pay claim would send day­care centres broke, said it would consider the decision overnight.