SociaLink Chief Executive Liz Davies has released a statement on the pay equity bill being rushed through Parliament this week.

SociaLink Chief Executive Liz Davies said she is incredibly disappointed at the Government rushing through stricter criteria for pay equity legislation that will negatively impact on many women’s pay.

There does not appear to be any compelling reasons to push this legislation through in urgency so it is hard to believe it is not a cash grab for the budget.

This will impact on the social sector which has a social service worker pay equity claim currently being considered for service delivery workers and those that support service delivery.

It is unknown at this stage what the impact on this claim will be.

Also of great concern is that one of the clauses to be added to the legislation is a focus on whether employers would be able to afford a higher wage bill. Given many employers of social service workers are funded through Government contracts which directly affects an employer’s ability to pay for workers, Government will be able to directly influence an employer’s ability to pay a higher wage bill.

Given the current Government believes that the existing legislation is resulting in women being paid more than they should because they are being compared, in the Government's view, with highly skilled male-dominated occupations, it is unlikely that Government will stump up to pay higher wages for women.

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