Baillieu Under Pressure on Equal Pay Case
6 February 2012 at 3:03 pm
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| Premier Ted Baillieu is under pressure to commit to funding the equal pay decision |
Nearly 2,000 Australians have joined an online campaign urging the Victorian Government to fully fund Fair Work Australia’s equal pay decision and not cut critical services.
In an historic move last week, Fair Work Australia found in favour of the community sector equal pay claim which will see major pay rises for tens of thousands of workers across the country.
But pressure is mounting on the States and Territories to commit to the funding of the decision.
The campaign, on Change.org, demands that the Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu honours his pre-election commitment to fully fund the equal pay case, and has just under 2,000 signatories.
Community worker, Katie Dunlop, started the online petition after reading reports that the Victorian Government had not committed to funding the equal pay decision.
“Mr Baillieu went to the state election promising to fully fund the equal pay decision,” Dunlop said. “Now, he is saying he is only prepared to commit to a miserly $200 million over four years.”
Dunlop says that if the state does not fully fund the equal pay decision then there will be job losses and cuts in services to the most vulnerable in our society.
Last week, Pro Bono Australia News reported that the Victorian Government said that the decision has major financial and service provision implications for Victoria, which the Victorian Government will carefully consider.
The Victorian Government also said it was vital the Commonwealth Government guarantee to provide a substantial and ongoing financial commitment to help meet the very heavy costs imposed on state governments and non-government organisations as a result of the Commonwealth's role in this case.
Dunlop said: “The Premier seems to be saying that we cannot have both equal pay and an excellent community service sector – that we have to choose one or the other. Now is the time for the public to tell him that this is not the case.”
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Since this article doesn’t link to the petition, here’s the link for anyone who’s interested:
http://www.change.org/petitions/funding-equal-pay-doesnt-mean-cutting-services-to-our-communitys-most-vulnerable-members
Also, the petition is now over 2,400.
Cheers
Alex
We need premier Baileu to honor his election promise.
This is very important.
Workers in the community sector deserve equal, reasonable pay.
Just as importantly, we need to renumerate people adequately, so that our most vunerable members of society recieve high quality care and services.