The Fair Work Commission is considering whether the awards for higher education staff should be reviewed to address lower pay rates as a result of gender bias.
The Commission has decided to adjust job classifications and minimum wage rates in five industries so far, finding that workers in those industries are paid less than they should be, because they are generally done by women.
A further 22 awards are under review, but the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (AHEIA) says HE awards should not be included, while the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) says they should.
This is not a big deal directly for staff at universities and colleges with individual enterprise agreements, but award conditions underpin EBs.
AHEIA, which represents 34 of the 44 universities, told the inquiry that HE staff do not meet the Commission’s 60% threshold for “feminised” occupations, (although at 58.69% it is a near-run thing). Plus, AHEIA adds, its members’ enterprise agreements pay up to 50% above award rates.
In contrast, the union raised the issue of living standards of women working in HE outside of universities and argued the review should “reshape and reflect the needs of workers relative to living standards,” in the tradition of the 1907 Harvester Judgement, which established the idea of a “living wage.”
The NTEU has also urged the Commission not to use a narrow approach, pointing out that the under 60% of staff being women is Full Time Equivalent and conceals the overall number, which includes part-time staff working fewer hours.
Data provided by the Department of Education, shows that 50% of fixed term academics are men but women dominate all other time-limited and casual categories, ranging from casual teaching and research (62%) through fixed-term professionals (66%) to casual research (74%).
The NTEU also points to the calculations of the WorkPlace Gender Equality Agency, which reports women make up 61% of total HE workers, including 52% of the top quartile and 67% of the lowest.