Thread by @VCOSS

Happy International Women’s Day! #IWD2019

Question: why is the Federal Government refusing to renew equal pay funding for the female-dominated community sector?

A thread...

In 2012, Fair Work Australia agreed with @ASUnion that workers in areas like disability support, homelessness outreach, family violence and trauma counselling, etc—which are 80% women—deserved a pay rise.

This is called the equal remuneration order, or ERO.

The Gillard Government then stumped up more than $2billion to help cover the costs.

Women (and men) across the sector got a pay rise

But—and here’s the rub—that Commonwealth funding stream is about to run out.

The last scheduled payment will occur in July.

Then what? 🤷🏼‍♀️

So far, the Morrison Government hasn’t agreed to renew this funding.

If the money was to be removed, and not adequately replaced, it would mean job losses and service cuts across the female-dominated community sector.

Here’s @bevan_warner from @LaunchHousing:

And here’s ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie:

We simply cannot allow this to happen.

So what can you do?

✅ Share this thread.

✅ Write to your local federal MP, or the Treasurer @JoshFrydenberg and tell them to renew to ERO.

✅ Follow @ACOSS, @cassandragoldie and @ASUnion for further updates.

#FairFunding4FairPay