Librarians, library technicians, and archivists in the Australian state of New South Wales will receive pay increases of up to 25%, thanks to a March 28 ruling by the N.S.W. Industrial Relations Commission. The commission found that the work of library employees has been historically undervalued because they are mainly women, and “there have been significant increases in the last decade . . . in the work, skill, and responsibilities of such employees that have not been properly taken into account in fixing their rates of pay.”
Seen as one of the most significant pay-equity decisions in Australia in the past 30 years, the ruling may serve as a benchmark for other female-dominated professions, the Australian Associated Press reported March 28. The commission also ruled that librarians and library technicians must be qualified to earn membership in the Australian Library and Information Association.
A labor union called the Public Service Association brought the case in 2001 to prove that a female worker was worth the same as her male counterpart in a similar career. It was the first case to test a new principle of gender pay equity set down by the IRC in 2000.
PSA State Secretary Maurie O’Sullivan told the AAP that the decision was a win for justice: “Today’s outcome means we have struck some industrial justice, some social justice, and some gender justice. It’s been so long coming. It couldn’t have come soon enough.” He added that the changes meant a librarian in the highest category would receive a 25% pay increase to $56,000.
Cathy Joseph, a librarian at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, said the decision meant librarians would be recognized as a profession in their own right. “The whole pay equity basis is that we have been underpaid, we have been undervalued because it’s predominantly women,” she said. “It’s about time that sort of thing was thrown out.”
Posted April 1, 2002.