A century of pay inequity: is the end in sight?

A century of pay inequity: is the end in sight? Formalised Adj. 1. formalised - concerned with or characterized by rigorous adherence to recognized forms (especially in religion or art); "highly formalized plays like `Waiting for Godot'"formalistic, formalized disadvantage in female remuneration began in Australiain 1907 with the Federal 'Harvester Case' decision, which setin law the differential between male and female wages. It established abasic wage for males on the basis of their 'breadwinner'status. Further decisions of this nature followed. Throughout the secondhalf of the twentieth century women have struggled to overcome thedisadvantage imposed during the earlier decades. ********** AS FEMALE LIBRARIANS ENTERED THE AUSTRALIAN WORKFORCE around theturn of the century their experience of wage disadvantage ran parallelto that of their sisters in other areas of employment. Of specialinterest in the case of librarians is that their occupation quicklybecame female-dominated (because they were recognised as cheap labour),and this led to further issues of disadvantage. For librarians, issuesregarding professional qualification and promotion became as importantas equal pay. Equal pay legislation, when it finally came, did little toaddress the overall disadvantage suffered by professional librarians.Equal pay did not in any way resemble pay equity. 'Pay equityencompasses all forms of remuneration. Women in Australia earn less thanmen in all categories of earnings ... all occupational groupings and themajority of benefits' (National Women's Consultative Council1990 p1). Real progress in pay equity came in the last years of the centuryfor women in general, including librarians. In 1996 the NSW NSWNew South WalesNoun 1. NSW - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfareNaval Special Warfare governmentestablished the Pay Equity Taskforce, under the auspices of the NSWAttorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations industrial relationspl.n.Relations between the management of an industrial enterprise and its employees.industrial relationsNoun, plthe relations between management and workers , to investigatepay equity issues affecting women in the state. Their 1997 report had akey recommendation that an inquiry into work value be conducted in theIndustrial Relations Commission Industrial Relations Commissions are government courts or tribunal set up by a state or country to regulate and adjudicate on employment and industrial issues between employees and employers. . The purpose of this, the first PayEquity Inquiry in Australia, was to gather evidence and makerecommendations concerning the under-valuation of women's work.Significant for the library profession was the selection of librariansat the State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales is a large public library owned by the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Macquarie Street, Sydney near Shakespeare Place.The public library started as the 'Australian Subscription Library' in 1826. as one of the six occupations tobe examined. Librarians were the only professional group to be selectedfor examination. The Inquiry found that women's work wasundervalued UndervaluedA stock or other security that is trading below its true value.Notes:The difficulty is knowing what the "true" value actually is. Analysts will usually recommend an undervalued stock with a strong buy rating. in female-dominated industries and occupations; and thatremedial action A remedial action is a change made to a nonconforming product or service to address the deficiency.Rework and repair are generally the remedial actions taken on products, while services usually require additional services to be performed to ensure satisfaction. is required. Justice Glynn ruled that such remedialaction should take place within the existing Industrial Relationssystem. She recommended that a new principle, the 'EqualRemuneration Principle' be included in the Industrial Relations Act1996 (Pay Equity Inquiry, Volume 2 p 174). This recommendation became law on 30 June 2000. Unions are now ableto seek variations to awards by establishing that rates in the award areundervalued on a gender basis. Now the framework is in place, thedifficulty for librarians is to actually 'get the ball over theline'. There has been a history of union indifference to theprofession. Librarians are a small group in the scheme of union powerbases. For example, in local government, librarians are lumped togetherwith other professions and sub-professions (largely male-dominated) andit will be difficult to persuade their union representatives to pursuethe Equal Remuneration Principle in enterprise agreements. Such actionwould be seen as endangering 'relativities' with these otheroccupations. A history of women's pay disadvantage Legislative framework The Pay Equity Inquiry (1998 Volume 3 p72-148) provides a briefhistory of the disadvantage. It began with the entrenchment of amale/female differential in 'The Harvester Case' (1907) 2Commonwealth Arbitration Reports (CAR) 1. This case prescribed a basicwage for a man founded upon his status as 'breadwinner', withan obligation, or a potential obligation, to provide for a family. Alater case 'The Fruitpickers' Case' (1912) 6 CAR 61rejected the argument that the basic wage for men and women be the same.Apparently the obligation for a woman to provide for a family, with orwithout a breadwinner bread��win��ner?n.One whose earnings are the primary source of support for one's dependents.bread��winning n. , was dismissed. In 1919 the female basic wage wasset at fifty-four per cent of the male wage, where it remained until1943 when it was increased to seventy-five per cent. In 1969 the first equal pay case was brought in the Federal sphere,the result being the introduction of the principle of equal pay forequal work. There had been art earlier NSW-based equal pay legislationin the Female Rates (Amendment) Act 1958. This was the first Australianequal pay legislation which stated that workers regardless of genderwere to be paid equally for performing work of the same or like natureand of equal value. The 1969 Federal Equal Pay decision granted equalpay to women who performed the same work, or like nature and of equalvalue, as men. However the Commission decided that equal pay should notapply where women, essentially or usually, carried out the work. Thereinlies the rub; equality principles did not apply in female-dominatedoccupations and professions. This decision severely limited the spreadof equal pay for many women. (NSW Pay Equity Taskforce: issues paper1996). Librarians being a female-dominated profession were, and havecontinued to be, affected by this decision. The Australian industrial relations system, since its inception,has been centralised Adj. 1. centralised - drawn toward a center or brought under the control of a central authority; "centralized control of emergency relief efforts"; "centralized government"centralized at either federal or state level. At the Federallevel formalised arrangements exist to regulate the terms and conditionsof employment conditions of employmentthat part of an employment that sets out the duties, responsibilities, hours of work, salary, leave and other privileges to be enjoyed by persons employed, for example a veterinary nurse, in private practice. and wage fixing through a series of awards. Statetribunals generally have followed the Federal lead in major test cases.The Australian industrial relations system for many years held assacrosanct sac��ro��sanct?adj.Regarded as sacred and inviolable.[Latin sacrs the maintenance of relativities between occupations. Thequest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby"quest after, go after, pursuelook for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the women's pay equity has been inconsistent with this idealand has therefore often met with mixed success in the industrialrelations system. Over the decades since the 1969 decision, severalattempts were made to persuade the Commission to accept alternativeviews such as 'work value assessment' and 'comparableworth', but without success (Burgess et al. 1998 p19). Thesedecisions have lead to entrenched en��trench? also in��trenchv. en��trenched, en��trench��ing, en��trench��esv.tr.1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending.2. structural bias within the wage fixingarrangements operating in Australia. It was not until 1996 when the NSW government enacted theIndustrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW) which had as a specific object theredressing of inequitable pay and employment arrangements, that someprogress was made. Hansard reports the then NSW Attorney-General asstating 'Comparable pay principles have not been properly applied.The government wants ... industrial tribunals to rectify rec��ti��fyv.1. To set right; correct.2. To refine or purify, especially by distillation. thosehistorical inequities'. Librarians Encel, Bullard and Cass (1972) provided a valuable history oflibrarians in New South Wales New South Wales,state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. from the early days of the twentiethcentury until the time of their study. They write of several phenomenacontributing to the peculiar position in which the profession findsitself. There is the issue of pay differentials. In the past, male tofemale within the profession and today male to female, outside agender-segregated profession. A further issue which resulted indisadvantage was the feminisation Noun 1. feminisation - the process of becoming feminized; the development of female characteristics (loss of facial hair or breast enlargement) in a male because of hormonal disorders or castrationfeminization of the profession and the requirementin place until 1966 (Geise 1994 p23) that librarians in the State PublicService were required to resign upon marriage, thus losing seniority andcontinuity of experience. Professionalism and promotional opportunitieswere vexed questions for many years. The authors conclude on a note ofdissatisfaction with the performance of the professional association,then the Library Association of Australia. Much of the recent writing on the subject of pay equity has centredon the librarians employed at the State Library of New South Wales(SLNSW SLNSW State Library of New South Wales (Australia)) (Fruin 1997). Encel, Bullard and Cass also drew heavily on thisinstitution because of its importance as the premier library in thestate. Both these studies highlighted the poor status attached to femalelibrarians at the State Library in the first half of last century. Theearly male principal librarians at the SLNSW were keen to utilise thesupply of young, cheap, well educated, female labour. By the 1930s theinstitution was largely staffed by women. 'Their main duties wereoriginally as cataloguers and classifiers, tasks regarded as largelymechanical but important enough to warrant the employment of'sober, steadfast and demure de��mure?adj. de��mur��er, de��mur��est1. Modest and reserved in manner or behavior.2. Affectedly shy, modest, or reserved. See Synonyms at shy1. graduates'. Any non-graduatewomen employed were relegated to circulation duties, strictlynon-professional tasks. Women were seen as a necessary evil in thelibrary, acceptable only because they were affordable. It was their affordability that is at the crux Crux(krks)[Lat.,=cross], small but brilliant southern constellation whose four most prominent members form a Latin cross, the famous Southern Cross. of the disadvantagethat they, and their successors, suffered. Until 1969 female librarianscould receive only seventy-five per cent of the wage paid to men in thesame positions. Female librarians in relatively senior positions wereoften paid less than their male subordinates. Jean Arnott, a famousactivist librarian, recalled being paid less at one time than the malecleaner. She was regularly paid less than male subordinates. In manycases the males employed at the SLNSW were not graduates, often usingtheir employment there as a means of gaining qualification in order tomove up in the State Public Service. However the effect of havingnon-qualified males subordinate to female professionals had a'double whammy' effect for the women. Because they wereunqualified the males were relatively lowly low��ly?adj. low��li��er, low��li��est1. Having or suited for a low rank or position.2. Humble or meek in manner.3. Plain or prosaic in nature.adv.1. paid in the State PublicService hierarchy. Since their female superiors could only receive atbest seventy-five per cent of the male wage, there began the entrencheddisadvantage. 'When male and female rates were subsequently'equalised', they were set at the existing male rate andthereby failed to reflect the higher qualifications of the women'(Hunter 2000, p19). Librarianship was forever relegated to the lowerpaid professional stratum stratum/stra��tum/ (strat��um) (stra��tum) pl. stra��ta ? [L.] a layer or lamina.stratum basa��le . 'Librarians have been, and continue tobe located at the lower end of salary rates for professionals engaged inthe public sector, particularly compared with psychologists andteachers' (Pay Equity Inquiry 1998 Volume 1 p464), both. latterprofessions have a high incidence of feminisation. When librarians arecompared with male dominated professions the disadvantage is evengreater. As stated earlier it was a requirement that women in the StatePublic Service resign upon marriage. This marriage bar also operated inthe Commonwealth Public Service and within Local Governmentmunicipalities and instrumentalities. Simon (1997 p275) relates that themarriage bar was still in place in Rockhampton as late as 1977. This barhad a deleterious deleteriousadj. harmful. effect on the professional careers of many women.Forced to 'retire' upon marriage these skilled professionalswere lost to librarianship for many years and often found it difficultto return after their enforced career break. Encel, Bullard and Cass(1972) report that while 'eighty-six per cent of librarians arewomen; half the women are under 25; four fifths are single; ergo onethird of librarians are young unmarried women. The sharp decline ofolder women is greater than accounted for by death, illness andtransfer'. The marriage bar is evidently the most important factorin this demographic. Removal of the marriage bar resulted in a reversalof this trend as evidenced by ALIA, (Profile of Australian libraryworkers 1998), which shows that seventy-two per cent of library workersare aged forty or older. This is remarkable when compared to the overalldemographic of Australian workers at forty per cent. Promotional opportunities for women in libraries have been aselusive as pay equity. Again at the SLNSW, Encel Bullard and Cass (1972p28) reported that although 'a large proportion of women employeeshave been graduates, much higher than the proportion among their malecolleagues', nevertheless it is the men who had consistently beenpromoted to senior positions, evidently as a matter of policy. Althoughthe profession has for a long time emphasised graduate qualifications asa means of raising the status of librarianship, sex appears to be a moreimportant variable than education; all degrees may be of equal value,but male graduates are more equal titan female. As a resultlibrarianship has lost ground to other occupations where this doublestandard is less evident. Thirty years later there has been quite a change in this situation.Anti-discrimination legislation and promotion on merit systems saw manywomen occupying many of the country's top jobs in librarianship.The SLNSW had its first female CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , and (in 1994) all but one of thestate librarians were female (Geise, 1994 p23). There was an appearanceof reverse discrimination in operation. Professor Barry McIntyre isreported to have stated that 'in appointments during the eightiesto senior positions the structural imbalance has been redressed. Anumber of women have been appointed state librarians and universitylibrarians as well'. He observes however, that 'making thechief librarian women [sic] is orgainsationally easier than makingstructural changes within the organisation' (Geise, 1994 p23).Obviously this is true, since even after the twelve-year stewardship oftwo female state librarians, the librarians at the SLNSW were found tobe undervalued and under remunerated re��mu��ner��ate?tr.v. re��mu��ner��at��ed, re��mu��ner��at��ing, re��mu��ner��ates1. To pay (a person) a suitable equivalent in return for goods provided, services rendered, or losses incurred; recompense.2. by the NSW Pay Equity Inquiry. TheInquiry further reported it to be 'noteworthy that, notwithstandingthe long history of female domination at the State Library, and allowingfor the statistically small number of the most senior positions, thehighest proportion of male employees is to be found in the two highestclassifications'. Women occupying jobs at the top does nottranslate into equity for all. Jane Simon (1997) drew upon oral histories and interviews withtwenty retired librarians to detail the status of women in librariesbetween the 1950s and 1980s. These women related the difficultiesassociated with seeking promotion. 'Male librarians were recruitedfor the higher managerial posts, such as chief (municipal) librarian ...women were placed in charge of departments such as cataloguing, but werenot offered the positions of power. Women represented a threat to anorganisational culture which valued masculine leadershipqualities'. Structural bias The foregoing paragraphs show a gradual building of entrenchedstructural bias into the working life of women in general and librariansin particular. Structural bias can best be described as subtleattitudinal and cultural decisions, resulting in disadvantage beingentrenched in economic and industrial systems. 'Gender bias is aninsidious insidious/in��sid��i��ous/ (-sid��e-us) coming on stealthily; of gradual and subtle development. in��sid��i��ousadj.Being a disease that progresses with few or no symptoms to indicate its gravity. force and many factors contribute to its perpetuation per��pet��u��ate?tr.v. per��pet��u��at��ed, per��pet��u��at��ing, per��pet��u��ates1. To cause to continue indefinitely; make perpetual.2. in theAustralian workforce. Industrial awards and agreements havetraditionally reflected the view that positions occupied by women have alower work value' (McLelland 1991 p5). He continues: ... in the case of librarians, an occupation where women hold most of the positions, gender bias is extreme. In local government the librarian occupation is paid some twenty per cent less for equivalent work value, than the male dominated occupational groups such as engineers, town planners and health and building surveyors. Some seven years later these statements were validated by thefindings of the NSW Pay Equity Inquiry, at which McLelland gaveevidence. The current situation The NSW Pay Equity Inquiry The landmark New South Wales Pay Equity Inquiry began in January1998. Expert witnesses included academics, union officials, employergroups, employees, consultants, anti-discrimination, pay equityspecialists and women's lobby groups. The Inquiry was a mammothtask, which investigated the findings of the NSW Pay Equity Taskforce inthe areas of inequitable pay and working conditions for women and theundervaluation un��der��val��ue?tr.v. un��der��val��ued, un��der��val��u��ing, un��der��val��ues1. To assign too low a value to; underestimate.2. To have too little regard or esteem for. of women's skills. The major findings of the Inquiry were that the under-valuation ofwomen's work was confirmed: the Inquiry found undervaluation in thecase studies of female-dominated occupations including librarians, childcare workers, hairdressers and beauty therapists. The case studies weredetailed analyses of the history of disadvantage in each occupation. MsD Fruin of the Office of the Director of Equal Opportunity in PublicEmployment (ODEOPE ODEOPE Office of the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment (Australia)) put the librarian's case. The AustralianLibrary and Information Association played an active part in thedevelopment of the case (Teece 1999 p24). A complex combination of factors was found to contribute toundervaluation; these included occupational segregation, non-alignmentof qualifications, un-willingness to assess skills, knowledge andresponsibilities in women's work, and finally the evidence ofgendered assumptions in work value assessments. All these factorscombined to undervalue women's work even in the 1990s industrialfield of wage fixing. Finally the Report concluded that 'remedies designed to removeundervaluation of work in female-dominated industries and occupationsshould be established within the framework of the existing industrialrelations system in NSW. The remedies should be derived from industriallegislation, (and) the principles of equal remuneration developed by theCommission' (Pay Equity Inquiry, Volume 2 p149). So after a century, there was finally an official recognition offacts that women and librarians have known for decades. Female-dominatedoccupations are under-valued and consequently underpaid un��der��paid?v.Past tense and past participle of underpay.underpaidAdjectivenot paid as much as the job deservesunderpaidadj → . Comparison with male-dominated professions In the 1998 case study compiled by Ms D Fruin (ODEOPE) for the PayEquity Inquiry, clear evidence is given that equally evaluated male andfemale-dominated occupations will bring differing rates of pay. Thereport demonstrated that: ... the disparity between work value, career opportunities and award classifications and rates of pay for librarians relative to geoscientists is likely" to reflect long standing under-valuation of librarian work associated with the female-dominated nature of the work (Fruin 1998 p7) The two professions were studied as a pilot job evaluation Job evaluation is the process of systematically determining a relative value of jobs in an organisation. In all cases the idea is to evaluate the job, not the person doing it.Job Ranking is the most simple form. carriedout in 1991 by ODEOPE. This highlighted a number of anomalies in pointscores and pay rates between these two occupations, both of which weregender dominated. The case study carried the onus of the evidence forthe librarian's case in the Pay Equity Inquiry Whilst Justice Glynndid not always agree with the points made in the case study, she foundthat the work of librarians is seriously undervalued, despite theirhaving experienced 'work value changes of the highest order'in the past decades (Pay Equity Inquiry, Volume 1 p490). The study was carried out using two commercially available jobevaluation packages by The Hay Group This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view.Mark blatant advertising for , using . (Hay) and Organisational ConsultingResources (OCR OCRin full optical character recognitionScanning and comparison technique intended to identify printed text or numerical data. It avoids the need to retype already printed material for data entry. ). Twenty jobs in each profession were chosen forevaluation. Each profession has the same entry-level tertiaryqualification, a bachelor's degree, although a librarian oftenneeds to have a post-graduate qualification to gain professionalstanding. Additionally 'geo-scientists are less likely to berequired to compete through merit-based selection for careerprogression' (Fruin 1998 p7) In a labour market comparison Ms Fruin states that 'whencomparing public sector librarians and geoscientists the latter werepaid between eighty-seven and 114 per cent of the median salary for thegeneral market while the librarians were paid between seventy-three andninety-six per cent of the median, for jobs of the same evaluationpoints'. Basically, librarians are paid below the median salariesof the general market for jobs of the same Hay evaluation points. A poorshowing for the female-dominated profession of librarian. Effect of technology on skill levels There have been dramatic changes in the nature of librarianship inthe past two decades. This has been directly related to the widespreaduse of technology in all aspects of the profession. Every task iscarried out through technological advances. From the on-line ordering ofan item, downloading of a record from Kinetica or OCLC, the integratedcirculation system, OPAC and web searching, the whole business istechnology based. All library schools have compulsory IT subjects intheir curricula. Technological complexity was seen not only as a meansof increasing productivity and access, but as a way to guaranteeprofessional status for librarianship, coming as it did hard on theheels of the push for professional recognition (Simon 1997 p283). Thefocus on technology was given in evidence at the Pay Equity Inquiry toprove the increase in work value by librarians. Unfortunately, thisup-skilling of librarians did not result in higher remuneration. For some time it was thought that this emphasis on technology wouldattract more men into the profession and that this would have twoeffects. First that the female domination would diminish and secondlythat equalisation could result in improved remuneration for alllibrarians. In fact, neither has occurred. Many of the men in librarieshave moved into the information technology area, but the overall numbershave not increased appreciably ap��pre��cia��ble?adj.Possible to estimate, measure, or perceive: appreciable changes in temperature.See Synonyms at perceptible. . Certainly there is no evidence ofimproved remuneration. There is another school of thought advanced by Strober and Arnold(1987 p 117) that 'holding constant educational level, experiencejob location and non-pecuniary job characteristics, the higher thepercentage of women in an occupation, the lower the wage rate for bothmen and women in that occupation'. This argument holds true in theAustralian experience, in the lower library ranks males and females areequally disadvantaged in pay rates. It is, as previously mentioned, thatmen become more successful financially through occupying adisproportionate number of senior positions. Strober and Arnold alsopropose that as women enter a profession, men leave, and thatoccupational segregation is less a matter of choice for women, than areflection of men not wanting to be seen doing 'women'swork'. Claire Burton (1991a p6) refers to this phenomenon by thewonderful term 'fear of contagious contagious/con��ta��gious/ (-jus) capable of being transmitted from one individual to another, as a contagious disease; communicable. con��ta��giousadj.1. Of or relating to contagion. effeminacy'. Job evaluation issues The Pay Equity Taskforce (1996 p47) defined job evaluation as a'formal procedure which, through analysing the content of jobs,seeks to rank those jobs hierarchically in terms of their value, for thepurpose of establishing wage rates'. This sounds like a fairlysensible process, a structured means by which to arrive at equitable payrates, however these systems must remain totally objective to functioneffectively and rarely does this occur. Biases creep in Verb 1. creep in - enter surreptitiously; "He sneaked in under cover of darkness"; "In this essay, the author's personal feelings creep in"sneak inpenetrate, perforate - pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance; "The bullet penetrated her chest" , and gender biasin particular is difficult to exclude. So the very systems which weresupposed to bring fairness and equity to the process have themselvesbecome tainted taint?v. taint��ed, taint��ing, taintsv.tr.1. To affect with or as if with a disease.2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil. See Synonyms at contaminate.3. . Claire Burton (a former director of ODEOPE) in her bookWomen's worth: pay equity and job evaluation in Australia (1987)gives many reasons for this and all are complex and inter-related: * Job evaluation processes are too subjective (p3). * The influence of the senior people on the evaluation team on thefinal ranking of the job (p4). * The effect of the person doing the rating's familiarity (orlack of) with the job being evaluated (p4) * The whole issue of position descriptions: their consistency,length and scope (p45) * The use of language in position descriptions as a means ofdifferentiating male and female jobs (p58) * The possibility of bias at every stage of the process, butespecially in the choice of factors and weightings (p86) * Wage discrimination in gender-segregated occupations (p30) * Women's occupational attributes seen as requiring lessability and effort than those for men's jobs (p31) * Women undervaluing their own work relative to that of others(p108) * Women undervaluing the work of other women (p 110) Throughout the work Burton uses librarians as an example ofundervalued women workers. It is perhaps worthy of mention that MsBurton was widely quoted in the findings of the Pay Equity Taskforce andgave evidence at the NSW Pay Equity Inquiry shortly before her death in1998. Her life-long work in job evaluation and pay equity is honoured byan annual Memorial Lecture. Union indifference The ALLA Profile of Australian library workers (1998) reports thatlibrary workers are highly unionised. Fifty-seven per cent of libraryworkers are member of a trade union; this compares with only thirty-oneper cent of the general workforce. This is probably not surprising, inthat the bulk of library workers are employed in the public sector whereunionism is very high. The argument that librarians have poorremuneration and benefits would not appear to be due to low levels ofunion membership. It could be that their unions are representing thempoorly, or that the librarians are minnows in the large, amalgamated a��mal��ga��mate?v. a��mal��ga��mat��ed, a��mal��ga��mat��ing, a��mal��ga��matesv.tr.1. To combine into a unified or integrated whole; unite. See Synonyms at mix.2. ,union pond. Some of the responsibility for this may rest with libraryworkers, in that they are insufficiently involved in union affairs. Encel Bullard and Cass (1972 p85) wrote of correspondingly highunion membership three decades ago. It is obvious that this high levelof unionism has done little or nothing to improve the lot of librarians.Their survey elicited the fact that more librarians favoured a unionspecifically for librarians, rather than being part of an existingunion. Given the progress made, they could hardly have fared any worse. Jane Simon (1997 p281) writes of the dilemma facing professionallibrarians over past years, when dealing with grievances. 'Themajority of librarians in Australia perceived the expression of personalgrievances as unprofessional, and abstained from becoming activelyinvolved in union issues'. They were brought up on a diet ofprofessionalism and self-sacrifice. It was this image ofprofessionalism, with the emphasis on the improvement of librariesrather than individual status, which has led to the image of womenlibrarians as passive sufferers of, rather than resisters against,discrimination' (Simon 1997 p270). Librarians have lacked the driveto push their unions into supporting them. 'The award forlibrarians has been historically lower than for other (local government)functions because as a group they lacked the industrial muscle toachieve pay justice. In such instances the role of unions in thedevelopment and maintenance of pay inequity has been considerable'(McLelland 1991 p7). Gillian Currie cur��rie?n.Variant of curry2. (1992 p80) writes of what can be achieved iflibrarians mobilise their forces. Her successful campaign as federalpresident of the Professional Officers Association (POA) in theCommonwealth Public Service brought a single professional structure withcommon position descriptions. This put librarians and engineers onto thesame rates of pay--heresy indeed. This is what can be achieved when youhave a librarian at the head of a major union! The opposite is alsotrue. When librarians are not at the forefront of the movement, themale-dominated unions, committed as they are to the maintenance ofrelativities, are largely indifferent to the issue of pay equity forprofessional librarians. 'It is a brave organisation or (jobevaluation) consultant who dramatically overturns traditionalrelativities in a major way' (Burton 1990 p9). There is plenty ofunion rhetoric on pay equity but not a lot of action. Enterprise bargaining effect There is a particular risk for librarians in enterprise bargainingdescribed by Currie (1992 p82). It is the focus on job flexibility(multi-skilling) to achieve productivity gains. This can bring ablurring of responsibilities leading to moves to dispense with To permit the neglect or omission of, as a form, a ceremony, an oath; to suspend the operation of, as a law; to give up, release, or do without, as services, attention, etc.; to forego; to part withTo allow by dispensation; to excuse; to exempt; to grant dispensation to or for. mandatoryqualifications. A large union with only a small number of professionallibrarians will probably see this factor as one of little interest tothe membership as a whole and therefore a possible trade-off. Curriestates that this pressure on mandatory qualifications may ultimately seean end to the profession. This view is given some validity when somechief librarian's jobs in NSW are advertised without reference tomandatory qualifications in librarianship. Remedial action Changes in our professional association and our unions Two issues stand out from the foregoing as important issues forreform. First, given that women in general and librarians in particularhave received little support from the union movement, it would appearthat librarians should endeavour to push for even more industrialsupport through the professional association. There is a difficulty withALIA's charter. The organisation is not only an association ofprofessional members (employees) but also an association ofinstitutional members (employers). Encel, Bullard and Cass (1972 p95)recommended that ALIA (then the Library Association of Australia) shouldconsider re-inventing itself as a professional association without theobstruction of the institutional members (of whom there were relativelyfew). ALIA is primarily a professional association: 'it protectsoccupational status and job control through eligibility for membershipas a criterion for librarianship appointments ... the emphasis is onprofessionalism around information management rather than industrialstrategies to increase pay rates' (Reed 1996 p510). However, in the past decade ALIA has been providing more in thearea of industrial support. Prime examples are the strong involvement ofthe ALIA industrial adviser in the preparation of the librarian'scase for the Pay Equity Inquiry and in the subsequent test case in theNSW Industrial Relations Commission to gain an equitable salarystructure for library workers in NSW. Second, although the library profession is highly unionised,unfortunately some librarians are in unions which do little or nothingto promote their quest for pay equity or equal access to'discretionary components of remuneration such as bonuses, companycars and other fringe benefits' (A woman's worth 1996 p37). Infact a small group of local government librarians, ably supported byALIAs industrial adviser, have recently (2001) been successful in theanti-discrimination jurisdiction regarding equal access to benefits(private use of cars). Until the latter stages, the relevant union didnot support these librarians, who funded their own legal counsel.Latterly the union at the state level agreed to fund the appeal(subsequently won) and any further protracted pro��tract?tr.v. pro��tract��ed, pro��tract��ing, pro��tracts1. To draw out or lengthen in time; prolong: disputants who needlessly protracted the negotiations.2. legal actions necessary tohave the Council comply. Librarians need to lobby their unions, at thehighest levels, for support. Changes in attitudes Women and librarians need to embrace the opportunities afforded bythe justification of pay equity as a proven ill, in the Pay EquityInquiry For too long it has been difficult to pinpoint the extent of thediscriminatory practices which infect the workplace. It is very often alack of understanding of the issues, which lead to these practices byboth employers and employees. Admittedly these are complex and of longstanding. Clear articulation of the findings of the Inquiry and theindustrial provisions of the Pay Equity Principle need to the madethrough unions and employers so that an acceptance of the issues canbring about a change in attitudes. It will be a long, slow process thatwill need to change entrenched values and attitudes. Conclusion Where to from here? The 30 June 2000 formal adoption of the new Equal RemunerationPrinciple within the NSW Industrial Relations Act 1996, will lead to anew deal for women and particularly librarians. It brings the potentialfor improved remuneration, since the undervaluation of their work wasformally found to exist (http://www.dir.nsw.gov.au/action/policy/equity/principle.html). The reasons for this finding hadtheir roots in the history of the profession, failure to adequatelyvalue librarian's work and to recognise their qualifications andthis during many years when their work underwent substantialtechnological change and development. 'Justice Glynn recommendedthat a full assessment to remedy the identified disadvantage (forlibrarians) should be conducted through the new Equal RemunerationPrinciple as soon as it was adopted' (Teece 2000, p36). Grasping first prize All this success in the courts seems too good to be true, andperhaps it is. The limiting of the principle to awards, and thereforeunion involvement, may see it subverted by vested interests vested interestn.1. Law A right or title, as to present or future possession of an estate, that can be conveyed to another.2. A fixed right granted to an employee under a pension plan.3. , andjustified by its final proviso A condition, stipulation, or limitation inserted in a document.A condition or a provision in a deed, lease, mortgage, or contract, the performance or non-performance of which affects the validity of the instrument. It generally begins with the word provided. , the provision of 'economicsafeguards'. Suspicion and cynicism is understandable: after ahundred years of disadvantage and disappointments, women and librarianscannot really believe it will all happen at the stroke of a pen, as itwere. However, in March 2002 the Full Bench of the NSW IndustrialRelations Commission brought down a landmark decision A landmark decision is the outcome of a legal case (often thus referred to as a landmark case) that establishes a precedent that either substantially changes the interpretation of the law or that simply establishes new case law on a particular issue. giving NSWgovernment library workers substantial pay rises of up to twenty-six percent. Further, it formalised the professional status of librarians andlibrary technicians and ruled that they must hold qualificationsratified rat��i��fy?tr.v. rat��i��fied, rat��i��fy��ing, rat��i��fiesTo approve and give formal sanction to; confirm. See Synonyms at approve. as conferring eligibility for membership of ALIA. This was thefirst decision made by the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Computer conferencing on the Internet. There are hundreds of IRC channels on numerous subjects that are hosted on IRC servers around the world. After joining a channel, your messages are broadcast to everyone listening to that channel. under the Equal Remuneration Principle. There was an interim award ordered, to give effect to the payincreases, and this was ratified in November 2002 as the Crown employees(librarians, library assistants, library technicians and archivists)award 2002. Now there is clear evidence and precedent for other libraryworkers to use in developing claims in other jurisdictions, such asstate awards and enterprise agreements. These are practical 'moneyin the hand' decisions where there have been genuine gains made. This is but the first step in what will be a protracted battle tosee these gains spread throughout the wider library community Not theleast of these battles will be within local government, the home of themajority of library workers. Success here will be slow and painfulespecially for those covered by enterprise agreements. Here libraryworkers will be a small number of one profession among a multiplicity oftraditionally male-dominated professions, sub-professions and trades. Iftheir concerns regarding issues of pay equity are not supported at thelocal level, they may seek to block registration of an enterpriseagreement due to its failure to comply with the Pay Equity Principle.This action would have serious repercussions repercussionsnpl → r��percussions fplrepercussionsnpl → Auswirkungen plfor them, both with theiremployer and the large majority of their fellow employees. This is notan action for the faint-hearted. Dr Jocelynne Scutt This article or section is an autobiography, or has been extensively edited by the subject, and may not conform to Wikipedia's NPOV policy.Please see the relevant discussion on the . (Claire Burton Memorial Lecture 2000 p3) speaksof the difficulties associated with moving forward in these matters: Time and time again, over and over women have fought to bring about a revolution in the way in which pay rates are set, and women's work is set by them. Over and over, time and time again, we have appeared to have won at least a small measure. Then come the backward steps or subversion by dominant notions of work value and women's worth. Too often when we make real gains, there is an implication that the winning of the principle is enough, without the practice (or the money) that goes along with it, as if the words are sufficient for women, not the making of the words meaningful. This is the principle of 'no change' when women are required to be satisfied with 'what is' rather than 'what might be' or satisfied with 'wins' that measure lower on the scale, because the first prize remains elusively positioned, and taken out of women's grasp. It would be an interesting exercise to revisit re��vis��it?tr.v. re��vis��it��ed, re��vis��it��ing, re��vis��itsTo visit again.n.A second or repeated visit.re this topic in fiveor ten year's time to see the progress that has been made after thegains made in 2000 and 2002. It may be that the future will continue tobe the fulfilment of Her Honour Justice Mary Gaudron's oft-quotedstatement in the Pay Equity Inquiry (Volume 1 p5): We got equal pay once, then we got it again, and then we got it again, and now we still don't have it. Manuscript received August 2003 [This paper began life as part of the requirement for a MastersDegree at Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an Australian multi-campus university in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga. , Riverina. Subsequently revised, itwas submitted for consideration in the Jean Arnot Memorial Fellowshipaward in 2003. The author, Irene Bonella, was judged joint winner of theFellowship in May 2003. The other successful paper was also written onthe subject of pay equity]. Bibliography ACTU ACTU Australian Council of Trade UnionsACTU AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri)ACTU Association of Catholic Trade UnionistsACTU Australian Capital Territory Union 1900 Media releases--call for action on pay equity myth--24August 2000. http://www.actu.asn.au/national/mediaOO/20000824myth.htm Burgess, I, Croce, X, Denniss, R, Green, R & Strachan, G (1998)Redressing the gender earnings gap: research report for the NSW PayEquity Inquiry. Newcastle: Employment Studies Centre. Burton, C (1987) Women's worth: pay equity and job evaluationin Australia. 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Gender, pay equity and comparable worth inAustralia: a reassessment ReassessmentThe process of re-determining the value of property or land for tax purposes.Notes:Property is usually reassessed on an annual basis. You may request a "reassessment" if you disagree with your assessment. . Adelaide: National Institute of LabourStudies. Women Tasmania. 'New pay equity principle a win forwomen'. (6/72000) http: //www.women.tas.gov.au/resources/information/indrel.html Irene Bonella B.A. (Lib & Inf Sci) M. Applied Science (Lib& Inf Man) is assistant manager (Central and Outreach Services) atWollongong City Library. She has been for some years an activecampaigner in the struggle for both pay equity and equal remunerationespecially the question of equal access to non-monetary and salarysacrifice benefits in the local government context, such as theprovision of cars, for librarians.