Community Workers WIN (and another Punch article)!

Equal pay announcement

Today, community workers have won equal pay. They’ve won a 19-41 per cent pay increase over eight years. They’ve won something that sounds a lot like fairness.

Fair Work Australia made the decision available around 12 noon today. You can read it here.

I had a piece published about the case in the Punch recently with Fran Hayes, an activist who was instrumental in having community services acknowledged as an industry through a High Court decision in 1983. The workers got an award then but they didn’t get equal pay.

Here’s an excerpt from our article:

One hundred and fifty social and community services (SACS) workers yelled and cheered. Some seemed close to tears as they sat in an auditorium at Technology Park in the Sydney suburb of Redfern last Thursday morning…

One of the community workers in the crowd was Lisa Smajlov, a coordinator at Rozelle Neighborhood Centre. Her job is to provide opportunities for people to meet and connect in their community, and to bring them together when they are dealing with issues such as domestic violence.

I’m so happy for all those who have been campaigning for equal pay and whose work is finally being acknowledged. Congratulations.