CELCTIC CLUB

Speech by Wendy Streets, FSU Director - Campaign & Bargaining (Melbourne) & CBA Executive Officer

Good Morning.

Last week I heard Sharron Burrow on the radio saying that over a life time, a man on average can expect to earn $1 million dollars more than his ‘sister’ doing the same job.

This is a startling figure.  It also illustrates one of the problems  with this issue – no one can quite believe the gender pay gap still exists in 2010, and 40 years since it became illegal to pay men and women different rates of pay for doing the same work or work of the same value.

Some other startling statistics:

• women make up just 2% of the Boards in Australia’s top companies
• young women in general are better educated that the men of their generation,     yet can expect to earn $2,000 less as a starting     rate in a graduate position
• women earn 50c to every $1 that men have in their superannuation savings.
• Sharron Burrow’s figure was based on the average Australian industry pay gap of 17%; in the finance sector the gap is much larger – at 28%.  This is clearly unacceptable.

I”d like to welcome you then to this morning’s breakfast and thank you for being a part of our fight for equal pay for women in the finance sector.

We are here to have fun today and to celebrate the wonderful work done by and for women in the finance sector by FSU (and its predecessor unions’) members for almost 100 years. 

So what was done about equal pay in the past?  What legacy did our sisters leave us?

Remember, we’re talking about finance here – historically the most conservative of industries.  Of course the Union too reflected the conservatism of the industry and society in general.  The Bank Officials’ Association (BOA) was registered in 1919, but women were not accepted as members until 1939.
 
Our records show us that in the 1930s a ‘bank clerk’ had to prove they were of ‘good character’ and to demonstrate ‘appropriate behaviour’ in their private lives.  For men, the employer’s hold over their private lives included delaying marriage until their salary reached a certain level.

Up until the late 1960s, there was a ‘marriage bar’ in banking for women: a woman had to resign if she wished to marry.
 
In 1956 the ABOA set up a women’s advisory committee – as the union journal put it, to get the ‘girls’ more interested in union affairs.

A decade later the Union launched its first equal pay campaign; yes- that’s 44 years ago and we’re still fighting!

The key case was based around an ABOA member named Joyce Cameron and it happened at a time where the industry legally paid ‘male’ and ‘female’(read – lower) rates.  Joyce worked for ANZ and was an active executive member of the Union.  Joyce was a manager’s clerk in a Melbourne branch – a role which did not attract the lower ‘female rate’ which was allowable for many classifications. However Joyce and other women working in this role were not payed the male rate.  When the Union questioned this, ANZ demoted Joyce and other women in the role, rather than pay them the full male rate.

The ABOA supported Joyce and the other women and eventually reached a settlement with the Bank.  Over the next few years the Union successfully pursued back-pay for women who were wrongly being paid at ‘female rates’.  This work culminated in a case where the ABOA prosecuted several banks for breaches of the award in respect to equal pay.  Many union members faced exhaustive cross examination in what was a major and time-consuming case in the Industrial Court.  The Court made its decision in February,1970- finding that banks had breached the Award in not paying ‘male rates’ and awarding back-pay to September 1968.

The Case was a huge morale booster for the Union and it’s female members.  However, back then, the Union’s leader had to assure bankers that equal pay would not be pursued to the detriment of ‘their own interests’ and many male members needed convincing of the merits of equal pay.  Hopefully we’re much more sophisticated about our approach today.

So, the ABOA finally achieved equal pay via the ACTU test case in 1972 which awarded men and women the same pay for work of equal value.

..Whey then do we still have a problem?

The Equal pay cases were about award rates of pay.  Since the advent of enterprise bargaining, performance and market based pay – the discretion over what to  pay workers is stronger.  Men often negotiate better starting rates (and our statistic on graduate rates bears this out).  Women are still segmented in jobs which are valued less highly when compared to male jobs, and women are often penalized after a period of parental leave by losing access to their previous, often higher paid role.

SO, what can we do? What will the current campaign involve?

As some of you may know, several employers have agreed to work with FSU conducting pay equity audits – NAB was the first in 2006.  However, this process is painfully slow and will not address the gender pay gap, industry wide.

FSU is taking a broad approach. 

Perhaps the most significant issue is the job segregation in our industry; it is not over-generalising to say that women dominate the ‘service’ occupations and men the more lucrative ‘sales’ jobs in finance.  It’s essential that we look at job design, hours of work and work value of all jobs to free up women’s progression through career paths, and give them access to higher paid jobs.  The old assumptions about ‘men’s’ and ‘women’s ‘ work were out of date 40 years ago – our classification and pay structures must be reviewed to reflect this.

We will promote the new right for all workers – women AND men - to request flexible working arrangements when they return from a period of parental leave.  Over time, this should help to ease the burden on families, giving them more choice and access to meaningful and well paid work regardless of their family responsibilities.

We are reviewing the range of diversity measures offered by employers and most importantly, ensuring these are taken up and that women and men are not discriminated against if they take their leave, opt to work from home, or choose the range of other measures on offer.

We continue to push for improved superannuation and hope to achieve a recent benefit won in the Federal public service, which provides superannuation contributions during unpaid periods of parental leave.
In 2010, in a rich nation and amongst the richest employers, it is inexcusable to not genuinely support women with family and other responsibilities, or to jeaopardise their earning potential.

We are in Canberra next week speaking to politicians about this. We are calling on the Government to:

• make it mandatory for all employers to report on pay, at least annually
• set up a specific Pay Equity Unit in Fair Work Australia – to conduct     education, research and pay equity cases.
• Run education campaigns in the community and provide funding     for unions to     address the gender pay gap.

Let’s face it: if the Banks and Insurers can’t afford to pay men and women equally, who can?
I hope you all continue to support our campaign for equal pay.  Please start by going back to your workplaces and discussing the issues with your colleagues.  You can also urge them to check our campaign site at www.fsunion.org.au

Now Claire will get the ball rolling with a quick quiz – to make sure you’ve been paying attention (a hint – there’s a Q and A document at your table).  And there’s prizes!

Thanks for your time and thanks for coming today.