Prime Minister Julia Gillard will support an equal pay claim that will boost salaries for workers in the community sector by around $12,000 a year to bring their pay into line with average wages.
The increase will cost the Federal Government $2 billion, but a hit to the budget bottom line will be avoided by not introducing it until late next year and phasing it in over six years.
Speaking to community workers in Sydney amid cheers and applause today, Ms Gillard said "it is time you got equal pay".
She said people who worked in women's refuges, disability support centres, homes for the mentally ill, as well as those who counsel victims of sexual assault all deserved better pay.
"More than three-quarters of you are women. Nearly two-thirds of you have an industry qualification compared to just over half in other industries," she said.
"But your average full-time wage is just over $46,000 per year compared to around $58,000 for all working Australians.
"[There is] a gender-driven pay gap which sees, for example, a disability support worker with a tertiary qualification who supervises five staff get paid less than $38,000 a year.
"You have above-average qualifications, you get below-average pay."
Ms Gillard said the funding arrangements in the sector were complex and involved local, state and territory governments, not-for-profit organisations, commercial providers and the Commonwealth.
She said all had to pay their share.
"This case creates an opportunity for governments and unions, employees and providers to put our heads together, to agree on a fair value and of course to agree on where the money will come from," Ms Gillard said.
Of the 150,000 workers in the sector, 120,000 are women; Fair Work Australia has already found that their work is undervalued because of gender considerations.
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